6/30/05
Greetings everyone,
It is hard to believe that we are now halfway through 2005! Time just flies by, especially when you are busily doing God’s Work. We anticipate a very active and productive last half of this year as we all pull together and move forward.
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
Ministerial Transfers
We must now close the gap left by the loss of Mr. John Ogwyn. Mr. Meredith has approved the following ministerial moves in order to do this: Mr. and Mrs. Lambert Greer will transfer to Texas in August—or as soon thereafter as possible. Mr. Greer will be the Regional Pastor of the Southern Region. Mr. and Mrs. Ken Frank will transfer to Louisville to replace the Greers. Mr. Frank will be the Regional Pastor for the Northeast Region. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Clore will remain in the Washington, DC area and Mr. Clore will pastor full-time the congregations in Mr. Frank’s area—except Asheboro and Raleigh, which will be pastored from Headquarters. Mr. Rod McNair will be Regional Pastor for the new Southeast Region, working out of CAD. More details will be worked out soon regarding realignments of these regions. We deeply appreciate the willing sacrifice and serving attitude of these ministers and wives who quickly stepped up to meet the urgent needs in God’s Church at the present time, and on such short notice.
An Encouraging Healing
On the last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread Dr. Meredith and Dr. Winnail laid hands upon me for God’s healing intervention. In his prayer, Dr. Meredith specifically asked for God’s healing upon my breathing/lungs; upon the scoliosis and skeletal deformity; and upon all remnants of polio in my body.
I had found it necessary to use oxygen support for about an hour in the afternoon of that Holy Day, but at the moment they laid their hands upon me the constricting pain around my ribs began to lessen and by the time we were driving home from service I was able to remove the oxygen AND I HAVEN’T USED IT SINCE THEN.
My husband wanted me to continue to use the oxygen at night (because up until that time, sleep-breathing had been so shallow that it caused my breathing to stop momentarily on a number of occasions every night). But I decided that I would not use the oxygen on that first night (unless I woke up in breathing-distress).
I was fine and also on the next night. On the following night I had been scheduled by the hospital to have a sleep test to measure the function of sleep-breathing without oxygen support. You can imagine our great joy and thankfulness to God, when the consultant said the test results were normal and that he was happy for me to discontinue all oxygen support.
Since then I have gone from strength to strength! Now that I am experiencing deep, restorative sleep for the first time in many years, I feel GREAT!
Yesterday on the Feast of Pentecost I was able to sing Special Music. As one of the lady-members said, “It is just marvelous to have such a powerful witness of God’s healing and physical transformation in just 6 weeks”. It was all the more graphic a witness, as we were in the same place for Pentecost as for the last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread and we were all together with the combined congregations as we had been then.—Hilary Murphy
French Work Update
We are delighted to welcome Mr. André Gantois to the French ministry of the Living Church of God. Mr. Gantois was ordained an elder by evangelist Dibar Apartian at the Feast of Tabernacles in France, 1989. After leaving our former association some time ago, and serving the brethren as a layman in every way he could, he will now be serving as a minister in French-speaking Europe, particularly in our congregation in Paris, France.
Visit to Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya: The visit to Kenya has been very positive. Upon arrival I conducted a Bible Study for 14 brethren in Nairobi and performed one baptism. While in Nairobi, we had a very interesting meeting with a publisher who has expressed interest in advertising our booklets. We then drove to western Kenya for a Sabbath service in Ndhiwa with 70 people in attendance--including representatives from another Sabbath-keeping group in the area that expressed interest in learning about the LCG. I began counseling a number of people for baptism in Ndhiwa. We also had a chance to visit a small clinic operated by one of our members who is a doctor in a village by Lake Victoria. On Sunday we looked at several potential Feast sites in the region and then drove to Rongo for a Bible Study with another group of about 70 people. This group included our members and also a group of former WCG members who have expressed a desire to join the LCG. I also began counseling a number of people here for baptism. We were unable on this trip to meet with another new group in this area that wanted to make contact with us. This morning Mr. Muthama (our host in Nairobi) and I will fly to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to meet with a group that also wants to be part of LCG. I will then fly on to South Africa for the Sabbath in Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town for a Bible Study and visits with brethren there before returning to the UK—Douglas Winnail.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES 2005
Feast Registration and Transfers (Must Be Read at Services)
Several hundred brethren are still waiting to hear whether or not their Festival site transfer request will be approved. Our hall in Lake Tahoe can properly accommodate approximately 400 brethren. At present, the site is filled by brethren who have been assigned to that site. No transfers to Lake Tahoe can be approved until we know how many plan to transfer out of Lake Tahoe. If you have been assigned to Lake Tahoe but plan to attend elsewhere, please return your Festival Pre-Registration form as soon as possible, so that other brethren may have the opportunity to attend there.
The Festival Office has already approved hundreds of transfer requests to other sites, mostly on a one-in, one-out basis. However, we have received forms from less than half of the Church membership in the United States and Canada. Even if you plan to attend your assigned site, it is vital that you return your Pre-Registration Form as soon as possible, so that we can know how many transfer opportunities are available for other brethren. In some cases, members may be given a second or third-choice transfer request because not enough transfer forms have been received from their first-choice site.
If you plan to transfer, but have not yet sent in your form, please do so as soon as possible. The Festival Office will not be able to consider transfer requests postmarked after July 25. Online requests will be accepted until July 30. The Festival Office must send out final approval or denial letters during the first week in August, so that brethren currently on the transfer waiting list have time to make housing and travel plans. So please act quickly, whether to secure your own transfer opportunity, or simply to be considerate of your brethren who wish to transfer. Thank you!
MEDIA
Tomorrow’s World TV Update
We aired program #249, “Fear, Frustration, or Faith?” From Thursday through Sunday, 1,911 TV viewers called in, and we are expecting the final response for the week to reach 2,311. Mr. Ames will be happy to know that the preliminary stats indicate that 55 percent of the callers were brand new, first-time callers.
This afternoon we will send the first tapes to KDFI-TV, channel 27, in Dallas. KDFI-TV begins airing the Tomorrow’s World program this coming Sunday, July 2, at 7:00 am. It reaches 2.2 million households.
WHNO-TV in New Orleans is hot. This weekend 37 more calls came in. To date, our cost per response is only $16 (for air time, shipping and phone calls). As the audience builds—and it will build—the CPR will drop even lower.—Wayne Pyle
New LCG Web Site
We launched a newly redesigned LCG Web site (www.lcg.org). This Web site, much like our Tomorrow’s World site, will act as an online library for Church booklets, magazines and telecasts. We have added new areas such as a Q & A and Study Topics in addition to our Bible Studies and Commentaries. Look for more Study Topics, Q & As and new Bible Studies to appear in the future. In addition to this we have converted all our telecast over to Flash video and MP3 audio. The new formats are an improvement in quality and will allow for quicker downloads. Please take note that all our sermons have moved over to the Member Resources Web site at www.cogl.org.
Starting Monday, the official LCG singles website will open at www.lcgsingles.org. Those singles who wish to be a part of this forum are encouraged to join. This site will encourage growth and fellowship among the singles in the Church.
Many other exciting Internet developments are explained in the current Co-Worker letter. The reach and effectiveness of the Internet is starting to take off. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements as more web-related projects are in the works!—Steve Stiffler
COMMENTS
The World Ahead is sent to all of the congregations in the Living Church of God. In most cases, it is read every week—however we are now hearing that it is not even referred to or made available to the brethren at some Church services. God’s people want to hear from Headquarters about what is going on in His Church. Often there are urgent announcements in the The World Ahead, sometimes from the Presiding Evangelist. It is the responsibility of each Area Pastor to see to it that the The World Ahead is read or made available, or both, to the congregations at services each Sabbath. Keeping everyone informed about news of the Church and Work is not new. The Apostle Paul did so as stated in Ephesians 6:20-24, “for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”
Mr. Meredith keeps everyone informed in letters and sermons, but he can’t do so weekly. That is where The World Ahead comes in. We appreciate your cooperation and diligence in following through on this very important matter.
Have a happy Sabbath and be safe over the July 4 weekend,
Charles E. Bryce
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COGwriter 2005