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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPoRT
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
VOL.4, N0.29
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
FROM MINISTERIAL SERVICES
International News
JULY 16, 1982
Southern Africa Regional Director Dr. Roy McCarthy reports that everything
is going well with the advertising programs in national newspapers and
magazines.
The largest circulating national newspaper, The SUNDAY TIMES
(approximately 500,000 copies) is launching a colourful 48-page magazine to
go with the newspaper on August first. We have approached them and will be
placing a full-colour advertisement in the second and the fifth issues. We
have been given page seven for the advertisement in both issues. Being a
brand new magazine, we feel we should do well capitalizing on the curiosity
factor.
Financially we are doing very well, and the figures for the end of June show
we have� 20.5% increase year to date. At this rate we can still keep ahead
of our inflation rate which is presently 16.5%1
New Zealand The highlight this month was the visit to the Auckland office
by Messrs. Richard Rice, Ron Urwiller and Sam Lennon. They were able to
spend three full days in the office, conducting very profitable discussions
on many aspects of mail processing and office procedures.
On the Sabbath of June 12th, Mr. Rice gave a sermon to 424 brethren from the
Auckland Church and surrounding areas. Messrs. Urwiller and Lennon spoke
to 106 brethren in Christchurch.
Regional Director Mr. Peter Nathan made a trip to Fiji and Tonga during the
month, and was able to visit with and speak to our brethren in both those
areas. He baptised one person in Fiji, bringing the number of members there
to 40.
Income for June was 13.7% higher than for last June, and the income increase
for the first half of 1982 was 21.3% over the same period last year. Incom
ing mail from New Zealand is up 23% for the year to date. However, Pacific
Islands mail is slightly down from last year's total.
We're very encouraged by our latest PLAIN TRUTH renewal results. A large
first renewal sent out
in
April has already brought in
a
40% response, with
more requests still coming in. When compared to the mere 101 to 15% first
renewal response rates which were the norm two to three years ago, this is a
phenomenal improvement! Over the past year or so renewal rates have been
increasing progressively, and this latest figure is the best result we have
record of ever achieving! Clearly, readers are appreciating the meaty and
hard-hitting articles that the magazine now contains.
New visit requests are also showing a very encouraging trend. During June,
our ministers reported contacting 22 new people, and new visits for the