7/14/05

Greetings y’all,

Responses to Mr. Meredith’s recent semi-annual letter have been very good. We are now eagerly anticipating the results we will soon be receiving from our Reader’s Digest advertisement.

In this respect, here is what Mr. Davy Crockett writes, “We are excited to report that the first telephone calls from the Reader’s Digest advertisement are already coming in.

“The story of how this idea of the ad came to reality is an interesting one. Mr. Meredith has wanted to advertise in the Reader’s Digest for some time. To do so had been beyond our budget. We decided to run a test advertisement in a major market for the Reader’s Digest and we chose the Dallas/Fort Worth edition with 170,000 subscribers. When the artwork and copy for the ad were done, we called Reader’s Digest to work out the details. The lady with whom we had been dealing with was on vacation, so our call was put through to her supervisor or manager. He agreed to check on the details and to call us back. When he called back, he said, ‘I have something which may be of interest to you. The August issue of the Mature Edition of the Reader’s Digest, which goes out to 4.5 million subscribers nationwide, is finished and ready for printing, but we have a slot for a full page ad.’ The space was offered to us for 31% of the usual rate. We quickly accepted the offer. And, to our surprise, when we got the bill it was for $8,100 less than the amount quoted. Since we booked the ad directly, they gave us credit for an agent’s commission.

“After the bill was paid, we received an e-mail letting us know that the August edition of the Reader’s Digest is the 1,000^th edition of the magazine and a big promotion would be made for the issue, which should increase our response.

“We anticipate that millions of people will see our advertisement and that tens of thousands of people will request the booklet on Revelation The Mystery Unveiled and also become subscribers to the Tomorrow’s World magazine.”

MEDIA

On Monday, July 11, our California-based media agency, Janik & Associates, met with Mr. Meredith and Mr. Ames here in Charlotte for a tri-annual meeting regarding Tomorrow’s World television.  The excitement and synergy in the meeting was most encouraging, as guidelines and future plans for growth were discussed in detail.  Already this year, TV response is up 31 percent over a year ago, and the Tomorrow’s World magazine circulation is up 34 percent.

With this significant growth, cost management and cost savings were at the top of the discussions.  The CEO and President of Janik & Associates, Mr. Dick Janik, will be energetically intervening on our behalf to improve costs, particularly in the United Kingdom and Europe, with regard to our telephone answering services, which are quite expensive at this time.  Mr. Janik will aggressively seek cost reductions, so the Church can put even more money into buying additional TV airtime.

Mr. Meredith gave Mr. Janik the go-ahead to explore additional nationwide TV cable coverage in the United States, which Mr. Janik will do right away.

Mr. Meredith and Mr. Ames have been working with Janik & Associates for the past ten years, and this agency has been a tremendous help to God’s Church.  We look forward to even more growth as the year progresses.—Wayne Pyle

MAIL PROCESSING DEPARTMENT

Lately, we have been experiencing slow delivery times and we are trying to help identify where the bottlenecks are occurring in the USPS system.  By helping to identify the problems, we can constructively help the postal system function more smoothly—and reflect God’s way of service toward others.  Please feel free to e-mail or write to us with your concerns. 

Our goal in MPD is to be as proactive as possible—by identifying and ironing out potential problems before they occur. We truly live in exciting times, and are deeply grateful for your patience, longsuffering and faithfulness.—Gaylyn Bonjour

FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Saratoga Springs, NY

The Turf and Spa Motel, located next to the Holiday Inn where services will be held in Saratoga Springs, is offering rooms and continental breakfast for $55 a night (before tax). The contact phone number is (800) 972-1229.

Llandudno, Wales, UK

Anyone planning to attend the Feast of Tabernacles in North Wales, and wanting to receive detailed travel and accommodations information, should contact Mr. Jim Bennett by e-mail at bennettbunch2000@hotmail.com or by telephone at 44-1492-540-834.

Tobago, West Indies

The Feast of Tabernacles in Tobago will be held at the air-conditioned Blue Haven Hotel. Only about 25 miles long by 9 miles wide, Tobago abounds with palm-lined beaches, lush rain forests and pristine coral reefs teeming with marine life.  There are many excellent and reasonably priced restaurants and a good variety of motels and apartments to choose from.  For more information contact Mr. Fitzroy Greeman by phone at 868-672-5251 or by e-mail at fgreeman@cogl.org.

LIVING YOUTH CAMP

If you need to contact someone at the Living Youth Camp, here is the telephone number: 906-647-6260. The e-mail address is: lyc@lighthouse.net. If you wish to send a care package to the LYC, please call the number above for instructions.

COMMENTS

Years ago, in Pasadena, we ministers sometime took students along with us when we went to preach in the neighboring congregations—such as San Diego, Santa Barbara or Bakersfield.  One Sabbath, as three students were traveling with me, I listened, quite amused, to their conversation. They were having a Bible memory contest among themselves, challenging each other as to who could most cite by heart Bible verses—such as Matthew 4:4, Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:36, Romans 8:7, Ephesians 5:25, etc. I was struck by their pedantry. In today’s world such a challenge would prove to be fruitless among most college students, but they would probably be able to cite which world events happened on 9/11 and 7/7.  This demonstrates not only a different worldview, but also a different sense of priorities and values. We are living in a fast moving world where drastic changes in practically every domain shock primarily the older generation. As we age, some of us are unable to cope with changes in life and we make ourselves—as well as others around us—miserable. All of us need to learn to face changes with a mature mind, and to accept challenges with a Christian attitude without ever compromising with God’s laws. Judging and criticizing others will not make us better persons or better servants of God. On the other hand, examining ourselves and changing what needs to be changed in our own lives will not only help us grow spiritually, but will also enable us to be a light in today’s world of darkness.       

Y’all have a wonderful Sabbath,

Dibar Apartian

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COGwriter 2005