God’s Work Advances!

The Restored Church of God is moving forward at even greater speed! Seven inspiring new major advancements are underway, each with expansive and far-reaching impact on God’s Work. Adding much to Mr. David Pack’s special two-part January sermon, we have posted another from him in a continuing monthly series—“March 2008 Update: The Vision Grows Grander!” Here is a brief summary of each development:

1. Headquarters Campus: Groundbreaking for an absolutely beautiful, three-story (plus lower level), 40,000 sq. ft. world Headquarters Hall of Administration building—the first of almost certainly several!—will now happen in as little as five months! In just two years, the RCG staff has doubled, creating a critical need for more office space. Each floor has been designed and finalized. Architectural plans include room for 14 departments to expand (and add more), a hall to host the Feast of Tabernacles, a three-floor glass atrium, a television studio, and more. Nearly 25 acres have been secured. This has allowed us to begin designing a comprehensive site plan for a stunning campus, with multiple gardens, several buildings, fountains, streams, paths, ponds and pavilion. It is inspiring to see God guide a process that is producing a campus that will reflect His standard of quality. (Watch for conceptual renderings of the campus to be posted in weeks to come.)
2. Two-year Training School: With a campus environment now on the way, the Church can formally announce a school (or college) that will begin in early January 2009. And with 25 to 30 courses envisioned, this school will reflect the kind of liberal arts education Ambassador College brought in the spirit of its well-known motto of “Recapturing true values” as it was “Teaching people how to live, not just how to earn a living.” As was seen with a growing Church, Work and ministry under Herbert W. Armstrong, only a formalized curriculum and program, and on a campus, can properly lay the foundation of education and training so necessary for effective field pastors, as well as Headquarters personnel. Often referred to as “The West Point of God’s Work,” what will truly be seen to be “God’s college” involves many hundreds of details currently being addressed and planned. The sermon begins to cover them, with subsequent regular updates to explain more.
3. Full-time Ministry: We have previously announced plans to hire ministers around the world, beginning in the regions and areas of most crucial need. A number of ordained men have already been designated for hire and notified. These men and their wives will begin to arrive at Headquarters over the months to come, with some scheduled to go to the field after graduation, and some likely to remain on staff. More will be notified over time, with a significant number of others already indicating their desire to enroll as students. While here, prior to formal assignment, these men will begin to regularly travel around the world in teams to care for expanding congregations and a rapidly growing flock. Such growth is obvious by just the contents of this announcement.
4. TV Studio: Construction of our television studio, similar in quality and presentation to Mr. Armstrong’s, nears completion. It has been soundproofed, high-definition cameras have been purchased, as has state-of-the-art editing and production software, beautiful paintings have been chosen, elegant furniture acquired, etc. Professional lighting contractors and other finishing touches will complete the set in mid-April, and we will soon enter the testing stage in this marvelous studio! Do not miss the release of The World to Come on video—several will arrive in May. The same power and impact once seen on The World Tomorrow program will again thunder around the world, this time to a massive audience at any time of their choosing—and in any number of programs they wish to watch—from the world’s largest religious websites!
5. Publishing: As eventually happened under Mr. Armstrong, the time has come for The Restored Church of God to make books available in bookstores, reaching a wide audience of those looking for plain answers to life’s greatest questions. With Mr. Pack’s first book—The Awesome Potential of Man—to be available in about one month, fourteen others should potentially also be widely available by fall. This includes online booksellers. With the others already in the pipeline, their titles will be listed in the next update, posted in a month.
6. Website Redesign: We have begun an extensive remodel of our websites, using a leading firm in the design field. Starting with realtruth.org (followed by rcg.org), the result will be comprehensive upgrades that will dramatically elevate our web presence and place our sites among the world’s finest. Some features to appear in five months (with more to be announced):
1. a complete visual redesign (so extensive we call it a remodel)
2. RSS feed—a function many websites have where news reports come to a single location for easy access
3. multiple upgrades to The World to Come page, including a “Real Truth” streaming video player
4. a user-friendly archive page that will automatically categorize content.
7. Summer Camp 2008: Preparations continue for a larger, full-length Ambassador Youth Camp. This year’s two-week camp will be in Western Pennsylvania in late June. The response has exceeded expectation, with applications from countries around the world. Attendance is expected to double. Activities now include indoor basketball and volleyball, softball, soccer, a 13-mile canoe trip, a 7.5-mile whitewater rafting trip, hiking, swimming, rope courses, and other outdoor activities. Campers will also participate in Bible lectures, leadership training, speech instruction, writing workshops and editorial production classes. (The latter will culminate in a special, expanded July-Sept. issue of Ambassador Youth magazine the teens will largely produce.) We are excited that both campers and staff from international areas will attend, helping to ensure yet another broad, life-changing experience! The theme of this year’s camp, “Training Future Leaders,” brings the right tone and setting to the entire camp. Two weeks at God’s camp automatically becomes more valuable—and more important—for teens and staff who know that two years at His college could await them.

Listen to Mr. Pack’s sermon to learn much more!