Many Special Announcements:
“Greetings from Headquarters! I hope everyone had a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles. My wife and I made it back safely and we found it very inspiring being able to visit all four of the North American sites. I only wish we could have visited all 22 sites worldwide. The reports we have received have been wonderful to hear. It truly was the ‘best Feast ever,’ and we have heard this time and again near the end of the Feast and in letters that came later. The inspiring messages and unity were powerfully evident everywhere. So was the numerical growth in attendance, which seemed to bring a new and exciting additional ‘electricity’ to every Feast site (because all of them were bigger, or much bigger, even though we had three more sites than last year). You can also look forward to the annual Feast edition of The Pillar, which will include photos and descriptions of the sites around the world.
“After returning to Headquarters, we all ‘hit the ground running’ with the many projects that are underway regarding an entire new Headquarters complex of many buildings (beginning in the spring), the dramatic expansion of Ambassador Center attendance, the imminent arrival of The World to Come program on nationwide television, and all the other inspiring developments in the Work that members in North America heard about in my Update Message at the Feast…Events are developing so rapidly—and in so many different directions at the same time—that regular updates may need to be presented just so the Church can move together—can stay on the same page—regarding these sudden large expansions of the Work.”
“Try to imagine both the number and staggering size of items that have suddenly come to be on our plate just since late summer. We think of them here as 12 ‘trains’ running on parallel tracks that must all move together. (There are two more ‘trains’—both potentially very big!!—that I cannot yet discuss.) Seven separate project management categories (trains) are tied to building the upcoming campus, now to include even more buildings that are all currently scheduled to be built at the same time. We might ask: Who else would even attempt to ‘bite off’ such a vast project in this way? Of course, the sole answer might be the Church of God, which understands that there is not enough time to do it any other way. Long gone are the days when we could take decades in the way that Mr. Armstrong could.”
“We are working with (1) builders, (2) banks, (3) an architectural firm, (4) an engineering firm and (5) the city of Wadsworth all at the same time. (Just think of the meetings, recognizing that we are now working with a number of banks.) A sixth element is that there is an enormous Public Communications factor within this particular project. First think of the local community, and then the general region of communities around us—which will see such a massive project occurring in economic ‘down times’ (250,000 people pass the worksite every day). Next is the world as a whole that will monitor this extraordinary development carefully announced on our websites. This is also true of tens of thousands of people in the splinters and slivers who will see and hear of it in the same way…Finally, the seventh ‘train’ is/are the incredibly complex financial factor(s) in all of this. (On a side note, I can report that our income in the first 10 months of this year was 45.95 percent above the total income for ALL of 2010.)”
“But realize that there are more ‘trains’ that we must drive at the same time: (8) The expansion of Ambassador Center—although the benefits will be wonderful, this is big and complicated, and in a host of ways. Next, (9) we are planning for nationwide television by May, and not merely on little public access stations that virtually no one watches. (Television is now in the budget, as is the cost of the enormous amount of additional literature that we will be distributing as a result.) When this new medium for the Work is launched, we will be able to reach vast numbers of people on top of those we are already reaching via the Internet. The scope of this new development is ABSOLUTELY HUGE for God’s Work. This much should be obvious. We can project that almost 1 in every 25 people ON EARTH will have access to the VERY FIRST World to Come broadcast when we begin on television. Brethren, again, this is staggering to contemplate.
“You can imagine how excited and inspired we are at Headquarters about expanding the reach of The World to Come program in such a powerful way, and so suddenly…”
“Next would be (10) the enormous number of phone calls that we will receive just within the first 24 hours—and ever after each broadcast—with (11) a similar giant number of emails, most of which will be waiting for us one day after the first broadcast—but others will come by regular mail all through the week—and (12) the immense new workload of processing hundreds, or more likely thousands, of literature requests (preparing and stuffing a great many more envelopes daily) that will come entirely above all of our normal mail processing. (Remember again that there are two more potentially big ‘trains’ developing in the background, both of which are directly related to the 12 I have just described. We will wait to see if either of these ‘leave the station.’)
“In short, soon nothing will ever be the same…”
“Brethren, we understand that there is hope for man, but that this hope lies solely in God’s SOON-COMING KINGDOM—in a government that can first sweep away all the failed governments of men and replace them with a perfect supergovernment that no man, group of men or whole nation could ever bring about. And having just kept His commanded Feast of Tabernacles, we all should have this understanding more in the forefront of our minds. More than ever in my life I am pouring my heart into praying daily that ‘Your kingdom come.’ I have found that it keeps my focus exactly where it should be. I have also found that this practice brings with it a hidden ‘empowering’ effect that is difficult to put in words. I ascribe this effect to a law being carried out—we are commanded to regularly pray about and for this. After all, God’s kingdom is coming whether we pray about it regularly, periodically or even not at all. Therefore, Jesus’ instruction may be almost entirely for our benefit. Of course, God wants to regularly hear that this is our life’s focus (Matt. 6:33). Think. When we pray this way, we are also hearing it ourselves. This alone helps ingrain it into our daily thinking.”
“Let me close by repeating, all of us at Headquarters, both myself and the Advisory Council of Elders, need your fervent and continual prayers for the many projects that are underway. Please take more seriously than ever the request for such prayers on a daily basis. There is an enormous amount of work to do in a very short time, and so much is at stake! I hope that this letter has done an adequate job of presenting this new workload for the size that it is. I cannot stress enough that God’s people collectively supplicating Him on their knees makes a difference. And please continue to pray that God’s Work surges forward in all areas! Know that we continue always praying for all of you.
“P.S. All will be inspired to know that on Tuesday, October 25, we completed purchase of the land upon which we will build. Beginning yesterday, a small team of staff members with chainsaws and other tools began to clear brush and trees in preparation for God’s magnificent new World Headquarters complex of buildings…We still expect to ‘break ground’ on or before April 1. This becomes one more item to pray about. Incidentally, a variety of different, beautiful ‘virtual pictures’ of the entire campus from various angles will be posted next Friday evening publicly on our websites. A virtual tour—inside and outside the buildings—is being developed, and will be added to our websites within about one month so that anyone who wants to ‘go inside’ can do so. You will not believe what you are about to see!
“Brethren, EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TO CHANGE! Now, REALIZE THAT WE HAVE ONLY ABOUT SIX MONTHS UNTIL IT DOES!”
You may wish to visit RCG’s websites regularly to see periodic updates.