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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 1, 1985
God's work is being done--we are going through the doors open to us as fast
as we are able. Please pray for us, as we pray for God's work worldwide,
that the doors may remain open in the areas we administer, and that we may
be granted utterance through the pages of The PLAIN TRUTH, GOOD NEWS, and
other publications to bring the only message of warning and of hope to man
kind prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
From Mr. Robert Morton We are pleased to report that the work of God's
Church in Australia and Asia has been blessed with solid growth throughout
1984. The following is a brief summary of what Christ has accomplished in
this area of the world during the past twelve months.
For the first time in the history of God's Church in Australia, The PLAIN
TRUTH mailing list exceeded the 100,000 mark. By the end of December, cir
culation had risen to 101,060 subscribers--a 68.3% increase over 1983.
Through the newsstand programme, advertisements in READER's DIGEST and
other leading Australian magazines, "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast and the
library/waiting room programme, 59,115 new subscribers were added to The
PLAIN TRUTH mailing list during 1984.
In Asia The PLAIN TRUTH mailing list also recorded a healthy increase.
Throughout the year 30,356 new subscribers were added to the file, bringing
our Asian subscription list to 55,651--a 59.9% increase over the previous
year. New subscribers came onto the Asian PLAIN TRUTH mailing list mainly
from advertisements in READER'S DIGEST in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea,
Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. In addition, about one-fifth of the new
subscribers were added as a result of "word of mouth."
Extremely encouraging results have been achieved in the newsstand programme
throughout Australia. The field ministry and members are doing an excel
lent job in promoting The PLAIN TRUTH, resulting in a 114.3% increase in
newsstand circulation--from 70,000 to 150,000 copies per month. Currently
there are 607 newsstand outlets throughout the country, and 365 members are
involved in newsstand distribution.
In Asia, interest in The PLAIN TRUTH magazine on the newsstands has been ex
ceptionally high.
A small newsstand programme of 800 copies per month is
currently being tested in Malaysia, while in Sri Lanka, 3,000 copies are
distributed each month on two newsstands. As finances permit, we will in
crease the newsstand circulation in Asia throughout 1985.
An exciting new development for God's Church in Australia occurred in late
December. Our new WATS number--008 074 222--was advertised for the very
first time on "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast over Channel 7 Brisbane. From
that first weekend of advertising our new number on Mr. Armstrong's pro
gramme, we received 107 WATS calls, of which two were visit requests. We
have begun to receive a steady trickle of calls during working hours, indi
cating that viewers are jotting down the number and waiting to call us at a
time suitable to them.
Australians generally seem to be in transition between being a "write-in"
society to becoming a "phone-in" society, and the WATS system in this
nation is still in the experimental state. Currently we have four WATS
lines (known in Australia as the "008 Service"). These four lines were es
pecially laid to the Gold Coast for our use and currently we are the only