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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 19, 1986
PAGE 5
Spending time with God's people in wholesome fellowship and activities is
another important facet that will contribute to having a spiritual Feast,
and is something that should not be neglected.
Proper emphasis must be placed on attending services. Attendance at every
service ought to be a priority! THIS INCLUDES THE OPENING-NIGHT MESSAGE!
We should not miss any service for some activity, trip or any other reason
except illness or emergency. We must not let the purpose of the Feast
escape us by putting too much emphasis on fun and activities.
Another area to be mindful of is excessive talking and walking around
during services.
(Sometimes it seems that offenders in this include
ushers, deacons and ministers.
These are the people who ought to be
setting a right example.>
Only such talking as is absolutely necessary
should take place during services.
Storytelling, laughing, general
discussion and all other unnecessary conversation simply display a lack of
respect for services, the speaker and for God.
Point seven concerning families, children and teenagers will be reserved
for next time.
Meanwhile, let's plan ahead ourselves to inspire the
brethren to really look forward to this Feast of Tabernacles as a type of
the soon-coming Kingdom of God. God intends the Feast to be a time of
great rejoicing.
With careful preparation physically and spiritually,
following the principles outlined above, we can all have a superb Feast
this year!
International News
•
From Canada The 7th annual National YOU Track and Field Meet was held in
the nation's capital, Ottawa, July 6. Despite a very humid atmosphere the
participants performed well and sportsmanlike conduct was high. Athletes
came from almost every province in Canada and a whole range of activities
was held following the meet. Tours of places of interest were held the
next day. This will be the last National for a while and plans are under
way to upgrade the Regional Meets for 1987.
Most of the ministerial moves took place this month and the new pastors
are now settled in their new areas. They have reported receiving a very
warm reception from their new congregations.
·In spite of the repeat telecasts, the programs brought in healthy WATS
responses. July was 100.3 percent over last year, bringing our year-to
date figure to 186.2 percent. Outgoing mail was down by 9.1 percent this
year due to the earlier mailing of the semi-annual letter. In spite of
this our year-to-date total is 27.6 percent over the same period a year
ago.
At the beginning of the month we knew we were going to have a difficult
time matching last July's income, which was unusually large. After seeing
minus figures for most of the month we scraped into the plus side by the
last day and finished at 0.5 percent increase. This brought our year-to
date mail income to 9.4 percent.
(Submitted by Colin Adair, Regional Director)
--Larry Salyer, Director of Church Administration