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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 18, 1986
PAGE 7
I was privileged to speak at both Bonndorf and Brno. There was a definite
feeling of warmth and love like that experienced in a close family. The
spiritual food was of very high quality, and also from a physical
viewpoint, the Fall Festival season 1986 was really the best ever.
(Submitted by Frank Schnee, Regional Director)
Proa Australia We continue to be most encouraged by the increasing number
of viewers who are using the WATS lines to request literature offered on
"The World Tomorrow" telecasts. By the end of September, the number of
WATS line calls year to date totaled 10,878--an increase of 112.0 percent
over the same period in 1985.
This increase in WATS line calls is not attributable to the •new season"
•world Tomorrow" telecasts produced at the new TV studio set, as the first
of these new programs will not be aired in Australia until October 5. We
are, however, looking forward to these new season programs and anticipate
that responses will continue to rise in number.
To incrP.ase our efficiency in handling the volume of calls already being
received during peak periods, and in anticipation of the larger number of
calls that will come from the new season program, we added two additional
lines this month--making a total of six WATS lines in all.
By the end of the third quarter in 1986, a total of 256,320 letters and
WATS line calls had been processed--an 8.5 percent increase over the same
nine-month period in 1985. In addition, 872,833 separate pieces of mail
have been mailed out since January--a 3.8 percent increase over last year.
We continue to be most grateful for the increase in the number of new
people requesting contact with the ministry of God's Church. New visit
requests in Australia for September. were up 71.0 percent over the same
month last year, bringing our year-to-date increase for visit requests to
49.0 percent.
As a direct result of the increase in visit requests, our Australian
prospective member count year to date is now 26.4 percent above the 1985
figure, while baptisms year to date have increased to 31.9 percent over
last year.
(Submitted by Robert Morton, Regional Director)
Prom New Zealand The month of September ended on a triumphant note as the
Eternal gave his people here a great victory, delivering His Work from a
sore financial trial!
October 1 saw the introduction of a sweeping new 10 percent Expenditure
Tax on almost all goods and services sold in New Zealand. At a single
blow, this threatened to cost God's Work around $150,000 next year--an
expense that we have never had to incur before, and could only be paid by
large reductions in advertising, newsstands and circulation.
The brethren were requested to pray about this situation, and incredibly-
totally contrary to the expectations of our auditors--the New Zealand Tax
Department has ruled that the Church can recover around 90 percent to 95
percent of all the General Sales Tax it pays!