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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
VOL.5, N0.38
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
FROM MINISTERIAL SERVICES
International News
OCTOBER 21, 1983
From the South African Office Reports from Feast coordinators, ministers
and members confirm that the Feast of Tabernacles 1983 was a spiritual
Feast first and foremost. God blessed and inspired the speaking and the
hearing.
Indeed feastgoers came home with minds and hearts filled even
though pocketbooks were well nigh empty. Physically, the blessings abound
ed--there were no serious accidents nor injuries, and anointings were at a
minimum. The accommodations, food, activities, and fellowship helped to
make this a Feast to remember.
We had six sites. In Durban, the largest, we had 1,560 in attendance: in
Port Elizabeth
340:
Sonesta
250:
Mutare, Zimbabwe
404:
Livingstone, Zambia
67 and in Mauritius 139--making a total of 2,760. The average attendance at
all Feast sites was exceptionally good.
Our visiting ministers were Mr. Gerald Waterhouse and Mr. David Hulme.
This was the 21st anniversary of keeping the Feast in South Africa, the
first being 1963. Before returning to the United States, Mr. Waterhouse
had a reunion at Dr. McCarthy's house with the feastgoers of 1963. More
detailed reports from the various Feast sites will appear in The WORLDWIDE
NEWS.
Thousands of pieces of mail accumulated during the festival period and we
have been very busy opening, reading, typing and mailing. Two groups, com
prised of office staff and members, worked on Sunday and Monday (a public
holiday), October 9th and 10th, to clear the backlog.
The financial report still looks very good. The year-to-date increase is
25% in South Africa and 28% in Zimbabwe. The holy day offerings for 1983
showed a 13.6% increase over 1982 in South Africa and 8.2% in Zimbabwe.
While in Southern Africa, Mr. David Hulme, Director of Media Purchasing,
looked into possibilities for "The WORLD TOMORROW" programme being tele
vised. An agreement is about to be concluded with Zimbabwean Television to
televise the programme once a week on Sundays. Believe it or not, they will
do it £reel
Negotiations continue regarding televising the programme in
Mauritius. There is still no open door for television in South Africa,
although having the programme on television in certain hotels may be possi
ble.
We are finalizing our direct mail programme and should conduct our tests in
early November. These will allow us to assess the response and prepare our
budget for 1984. We face the usual range of cost increases such as a 20%
increase in the cost of paper.
The advertisement in the July, 1983 edition of READER'S DIGEST has given us
18,943 new PLAIN TRUTH readers. The September advertisement thus far has