Peter
By Peter A. CM 3438 12/02
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, the news and stats in this Letter are from the time period beginning November 2001 and going through October 2002.
Dear Family,
1. Happy New Year 2003 and happy Family Birthday! Mama and I are so proud of you! We're very thankful to the Lord—and you‚ for all your hard work, efforts, prayers, and sacrifices—for all the wonderful victories and accomplishments of last year.
2. It's wonderful to be able to look back over the past year and see the numerous victories won and progress made on so many fronts. Last year was certainly not without its battles, but with our Husband's ever-present help‚ and the power of the keys behind us, I think you'll agree as you read through these GNs that the progress and successes of 2002 are truly outstanding! All glory to Jesus!
3. You may have noticed that each year-end report has been more lengthy than the previous one. That's because you, the Family, make so much progress and accomplish so much! You're simply tremendous! You're pioneering new things, reaching the world in new ways, and reaping marvelous blessings as a result. We don't want to leave any of the good news unreported. However, space does constrain us, and despite the whopping 108 pages that we devoted to the year-end report last year, totaling four GNs, we were still unable to cover all the good news that was sent in from the four corners of the world.
4. The Lord told us to make the thrust of this year's year–end report the newly set up board structure and its related victories. The board structure has been a major change in the Family. It has affected every key sphere of Family life, with remarkable results, thanks to all of you who are participating by being on the boards or by working together with them. Because we'll be focusing on the news, accomplishments, and victories of the board structure, we won't be covering all the other topics that we normally cover. As much as we'd love to, there just isn't room. So if your ministry or field of work is not covered this time around, please understand that it's only due to lack of space, and not because of lack of progress or lack of appreciation on our part for all that you and your co-workers do.
5. We need each and every Family member, each and every Family ministry, seen or unseen. Every man, woman, and child in the Family makes up our collective "Family body," and that is what we're celebrating in this series of GNs—the wonderful ways in which the Lord is using us, His Bride and Endtime Family, to accomplish His will!
6. Special thanks to all of you who contributed to these GNs by sending in your year-end reports, stats, news, and photos. We couldn't fit all the good news in these three GNs; however, we've compiled all the additional material and it's available for downloading on the MO site. Don't miss it! There's TONS more! Check it out on the MO site under "site news" or under "pubs overflow" at <http://www.familymembers.com/overflow/pubs_overflow/29>.
7. Without further ado, let's dig into the victories of 2002! As you read these GNs, praise and thank the Lord for the miracles He did for us all last year, the difficulties He pulled us through, the doors He opened‚ and the ways in which He blessed us! We have another year to look forward to, and seeing how the Lord brought us through last year so fantastically gives us increased faith that this next year will be even better! Praise the Lord!
News from Mama and Peter
8. Mama and I would like to thank each of you for your faithful prayers for us. We depend on them and appreciate them more than we can say. They keep us going!
9. Thank you also for the many letters and personal notes you've sent to us this past year. Though we're not able to respond to each of you personally‚ we appreciate your correspondence and the time you took to share your suggestions, questions, ideas, burdens, and heartbreaks with us. Please know that you are in our prayers.
10. Last year was an especially eventful year for Mama and me. The Lord led us to do some new things that we've never done before—in particular, that Mama has never done before! In July 2002‚ the Lord told us to make a set of videos for the CM Family, explaining about our apostates' increased activity and plans‚ the warning of coming persecution‚ the need to prepare and fortify the borders of our tents, etc. While I've made some videos which Family members have seen before, the new twist this time was that our very own dear Mama appeared on the videos! Aside from one other time when Mama talked on video for a short time to the COs (September 2000), this was truly a first! And she did wonderfully, didn't she?
11. We were very happy that the Lord led us to meet the CM Family via video. Mama especially was thrilled about the opportunity to be closer to each of you in that way, and to share her heart and speak to you in person. This was a milestone event, and the reactions from you to these videos‚ and specifically to meeting Mama on video, are still coming in! God bless all the VSs‚ COs, and others who traveled long and far to bring the videos to you, those who set up meeting spots, and everyone who played a part in making it happen.
12. Another first was that the Lord led Mama and me to make a trip to the States in late October to meet several academics who have studied the Family extensively. While I had met a number of these academics before, they'd certainly never dreamed that they'd be meeting Mama one day! It came as a surprise to all—including us! What would we do without prophecy and the Lord's surprises?
13. We spent three hours with each academic in personal meetings, allowing them to ask whatever questions they had, and of course‚ also getting in a hefty witness in most cases. Mama really shone! She was bold and full of faith as she answered their questions and filled the academics in on the new moves of the Spirit, the Lord's latest instruction to the Family, and personal tidbits about her spirit helpers, relationship with the Lord, etc. It was a thrilling experience for Mama and me to be able to pour out in that way.
14. Here's a little report on our academic trip, written by Marc and Claire, who were a vital part of our team during our visit:
Mama goes public—prophecy fulfilled!
By Marc and Claire, NA media desk
15. The highlight of the year for both our ministry and personal lives was having the privilege of participating in what some academics termed a "historic event" for the Family, as dear Mama met for the first time with several academics who study new religions and who have studied and written on The Family! Our precious queen shone with the Lord's anointing, and several academics commented afterwards how young, vibrant, and beautiful she is. Amen to that—the Lord has given us a wonderful prophetess!
16. It was awesome to see Mama step into a new role of becoming more of a public figure, as the Lord had said in prophecy would come about through the keys. "For as times in the world change, so does the need for your anointing change. And while it has been fine for these many years for you to remain hidden in the shadows and to let the words of your lips and of Mine be spread across the world only through your pen and the missives which you have sent to My children, that time is changing. You will still send them your words and My Words on paper, but you will speak more abundantly, more prolifically. You will do so in person‚ and the time will even come when you will be set high on a rock, and many, many, many will see you and witness your anointing" ("More on the Keys, Part 3," ML #3354:116, GN 947).
17. It was thrilling to see Mama and Peter interacting with the academics‚ answering their questions, explaining about prophecy, spirit helpers, the keys, the board vision, and more with such clarity, conviction‚ and charm. Upon being invited to these meetings, one academic commented that this was most certainly a historical and outstanding move on our part, and of course would be for those being invited to participate. He, and several others, were awed that Mama would choose to meet the academics and counted the invitation a privilege. Another pointed out to us how exceptional these meetings were, as it is very rare that the leadership of a religious group will meet with academics who are studying them.
18. Almost all those who met with Mama said that the main reason they wanted to meet with her was to get to know her as a person and have some time to talk and interact. It was wonderful to see how relaxed the meetings were‚ even though this was the first time that Mama and the academics had met. Although there was a fair bit of discussion regarding research topics, there were also some lighter and even humorous moments, and it was wonderful to see how much fun everyone had together.
19. Several of the academics commented on how healthy both Mama and Peter were and how they "really looked good!" We have let them know from time to time about Mama and Peter's health and the prayer requests that we've received for them, so it seemed that some of them were expecting Mama and Peter to be in less than vibrant health, and had prepared themselves for that. It was a wonderful testimony to the power of prayer‚ especially regarding Mama's eyes and the fact that she was free to use her eyes normally during this time and didn't need to use her dark glasses in any of the meetings.
20. We felt privileged to be a part of this wonderful event in Family history and so blessed to have such anointed and wonderful leadership to lead us into the future through His miracle-working key power!
21. Another personal change for Mama and me has come about gradually through the restructuring of WS over the past two years, coupled with the implementation of the board structure. With others bearing more responsibility, and consequently more of the decision–making load, our own loads have been lightened. There's still more than we can keep up with, of course; however, we're not involved in many things that we used to be involved in. Others have been trained to carry more of the load, and this is a great blessing to Mama and me.
22. Beginning nearly three years ago, we initiated a restructuring of WS, as explained in "The Action Series!—Part 2" (ML #3301, GN 903, 4/2000). Since that time we have established departments to cover every ministry and function of WS. Each department has a department head who oversees the department and all the people who work within it. Breaking down the WS workforce in this way has enabled each department to become more streamlined, more efficient‚ and focused in their line of work. Committees have been established for all major areas of home life, which has provided the shepherds with more help in running the WS units, which in turn lightens their load and ours as well.
23. Now that the boards are in place, we're expecting to share even more of the load with all of you in the board structure. Thank you for taking initiative in implementing programs and providing support and counsel for the Homes in your area. We think you'll agree as you read the next two GNs of this series that the boards are accomplishing great things, whereof we are glad. Certainly Mama and I are!
Some 2002 Family Highlights
World Summit in South Africa
24. If you haven't yet read the two testimonies printed in Grapevine 142 and 145, I highly recommend you do. The World Summit and the Family's presence there—complete with a booth, witnessing, children's singing group, tool distribution‚ and passing out literature and prophecy packs to heads of state from around the globe—was a phenomenal witnessing forum and a terrific opportunity to promote the Family and our work around the world. The Family in South Africa did a wonderful job of being a witness at this global event.
Ministry of Miracles
25. In 2002 we began hearing more testimonies of the gifts the Lord is pouring out, in fulfillment of the promises He gave in "What the Future Holds" (ML #3349, GN 942), which He termed the "ministry of miracles." Some of you who He has called to such ministries have been taking up the torch and learning about your gifts, and putting feet to your faith by putting the Lord on the spot to perform the miracles He has promised!
26. One Family Home in Colombia has taken on a healing ministry, and they are seeing marvelous results—healings right and left of many diseases and afflictions, some as serious as AIDS and cancer. Details of this ministry with numerous accounts of documented healings will be featured in an upcoming FSM. Other accounts of miracles and healings around the world were reported in the "Keys" FSMs‚ and more testimonies of this nature are slotted for FSMs to come. So if you've experienced the power of the keys manifested in healing and miracles, please send your testimony to fsm@wsfamily.com!
Keys Take Off
27. Last year, as a Family, we learned much more about the keys of the Kingdom. Using the keys, calling on the keys, and claiming the power the keys give us, took hold in the Family and is being put to daily use. Using the keys in our everyday lives and prayers has changed the Family in a significant way. More miraculous answers to prayer are being reported. People's faith is being increased. And key promise memorization is causing us all to get our memorization muscles back in gear! Aren't the new key promises terrific?
Persecution and Increased Apostate Activity
28. The Lord's warning of coming persecution spurred us into action to not only pray and obey‚ but to take steps of preparation and to do our part to minimize future persecution. In 2002, our detractors and apostates became more active in vocalizing their threats and intentions to cause the Family harm and to pull our young people out of the Family. Despite their attempts, this concerted attack served to strengthen the Family, as each Family member had to search their heart, determine their level of faith, and once again make a stand for the Lord and the Family, or move to another level of service or lifestyle.
29. The October 15 to November 15 study month period, and the compiled treasures of Word on our basic Family beliefs, played a big part in reinforcing everyone's faith and giving us increased conviction to not compromise, but to be proud of our heritage and the unique life we live. Many Family members commented that having that one-month period dedicated to focusing on those basic subjects was a tremendous help and strength in their spiritual life.
Spirit World Insight
30. The Lord poured out a great deal of new information to us about the spirit world this past year‚ including learning to work more with our personal spirit helpers, the revelation of a number of specific demons and spiritual forces that fight us‚ which we can now rebuke by name, and numerous powerful Heavenly helpers who stand ready to assist us.
Songwriting Push
31. Another call from the Lord last year was to pull down new songs from Heaven. Obviously many of you are heeding the call and responding‚ as our studios are being flooded with new songs and can hardly keep up!
Family Stats Analysis for 2002
(Note: All stats are for the combined CM/FM Family unless otherwise noted.)
32. The Family turned 34 this year, dating all the way back to September 1968 in Huntington Beach when Dad exploded with his famous "Declaration of Revolution" against the System! (See ML #1336, Vol.14.) It's been a wonderful 34 years, and the Family is still marching on and stronger than ever!
Building Our Living Church
—Where It's At
33. The main thrust for the Family in 2002 has been activating the world and building a living church of believers. In both of these efforts the Family has moved forward by leaps and bounds. Our present "fold," which includes Active members, Mail members (Activated subscribers are counted as mail members), and friends and supporters stands at 79,060. That's up an incredible 22.6% from 2001's 64,466—14,594 new additions to our fold in just 12 months! And only three years ago, at the end of 1999, the Family had 33‚379 members in its folds, so we've increased that by 137%! The Lord said He would expand the borders of our tents, and He has done exactly that. The Family is doing the job that our Husband has commissioned us to do, and these stats prove it!
34. Active members: Our Active member ranks continue to grow as more and more of those we minister to join our Family as fellow laborers and disciples, who witness, fellowship with Family Homes, help our work‚ and become part of us in spirit! Our Active membership now stands at 2,697. That's nearly one thousand (52%) more than last year's 1,770 Active members, and 147% more than the number of Active members at the end of 1999!
35. We have Active members in 81 countries around the world from Albania to Zimbabwe, A to Z! The Brazil region tops the charts of Active members at 490 (18% of total AMs), followed by India (387) and Africa (346). Africa has seen the biggest increase in AMs over the past year. At the end of 2001 there were just 66 AMs in Africa, so the increase to 346 is a 424% growth. That's phenomenal!
36. New disciples: Apart from our Active members‚ we have won 207 new disciples who have joined the Family full-time and are giving their lives to reach the lost, PTL! In recent years the number of disciples won has been in decline. This year's total, though not at its usual average (270 a year over the previous 5 years), is still a 21% increase over 2001. Since October 1971 we've had at least 29,341 individuals join the Family to dedicate at least part of their lives to the calling of reaching the lost for Jesus.
Our Job—Mark 16:15
37. As a missionary movement, reaching the lost and winning souls to the Kingdom has always been our focus. We've won more souls and gotten out more message than any other Christian missionary movement our size. And we're still going strong, as is demonstrated by last year's witness and distribution stats.
38. Witness: The Family personally witnessed 5.9 million times in 2002. 5.9 million times comes out to an average of 80 per month per adult. The ratio of souls won (1‚208,373) to personal witness (5,930,463) comes out to 20%‚ or an average one out of every five people personally witnessed to being led to the Lord. That's much better than 2001, when 15% of those personally witnessed to were led to the Lord. We're becoming more effective soul winners!
39. The Family had a grand total witness by all means possible (personal witness, mass witness, media witness and tool distribution) of nearly two billion in 2002!
40. Distribution: With so many new Family tools (not to mention the Activated mags) the focus of our Family's literature distribution has changed from mass distribution of posters to the distribution of Activated magazines, books, and lots of CD cards. As is shown by the "witness" and "our fold" stats, even though Family population is slightly less this year than last year‚ the Family is witnessing to and following up on more hungry sheep than ever, and by using Activated and the many books and tools we have, those sheep are receiving more spiritual feeding and are becoming part of our fold.
41. In 2002, the Family distributed over 13.3 million tools. That's about 4% less than in 2001. However‚ each adult in the Family on average distributed 181 pieces of lit‚ books, Activated mags, or audio/visual material per month in 2002, which is about even with the per month, per adult average of 185 tools distributed in 2001. Getting out 13.3 million tools in a year translates into almost 36,500 pieces of lit a day—pretty phenomenal for a missionary organization with only 6,150 adult members (CM/FM)!
42. This past year you distributed 10 million tracts, Activated mags, books‚ calendars, etc. Although this was slightly lower than 2001's 10.3 million, the per adult averages for 2001 and 2002 were the same, at 136 per adult/month. The 626,000 CDs and tapes distributed in 2002 is the second highest in our 18 years of audio distribution! You've also distributed 2.6 million posters and 93‚230 videos. All in all, it was a very fruitful year for tool distribution.
43. Souls won—the fruit of our witnessing: The fruit of our witnessing and distribution this past year has been the winning of 1,208,373 souls! This is an 11% increase over 2001 and the best per adult/month average (106 souls per adult/month) in 15 years! You've given Jesus the gifts that He's most pleased with, those that will last for eternity. Praise the Lord! And these are only the ones you've personally led to the Lord. Imagine the countless other lives that have been changed and souls won as a result of all the Family literature and witness that you distributed this year!
Population and Homes
44. CM/FM population: At the end of 2001 the Lord gave us the "Conviction vs. Compromise" series, challenging each of us to be the revolutionary disciples that He wants us to be. This has caused some Family members to move on to other walks of life or places of service where they would be happier. As a result, the combined CM/FM Family dropped approximately 4.7% this year, from 11,851 at the end of last year to 11,297 at present. This is the lowest CM/FM total since 1986.
45. We have a total of 8,048 Charter members, which is about 8.4% less than the 8,789 Charter members at the end of 2001. Our Fellow member population has remained pretty steady over the past year, with a 6.1% increase from 3‚062 in 2001 to 3,249 at present. CMs make up 71% of our combined "live-in" population, while FMs make up the remaining 29%. So although our CM/FM numbers are down overall, from looking at the far–out "our fold," witnessing, distribution, and soul winning stats this year, you can see that although we may be fewer, we're still getting the job done in a big way! As the Lord has said‚ He's making us into a Gideon's band, and as a result, we're bearing even more fruit than before!
46. Births: The babies that are born each year to missionary parents around the world are a wonderful addition to our Family. In 2002 there were 141 births. Even though the 141 babies born in 2002 is the lowest in 30 years and is 61 less than in 2001, the Family has still averaged over 1 baby/day over the last 31 years we have kept birth stats, bringing our total to 13,644 babies born in the Family. PTL!
47. One reason births have been down in recent years is because slightly more than half of our adult women, ages 16 and up, are either under 21 or over 45. However, as a sign that our birth rate may be headed up in the next few years, betrothals in 2002 rose by 29% over last year. There were 75 betrothals this year, the most since 1995! Congratulations to all you newlyweds, and may you be fruitful and multiply!
48. Homes: There was a 4.5% decrease in Family Homes in 2002 over last year. At present we have 1,405 CM/FM Homes, down from 1,471 in 2001. This decrease was due to a 101 drop in CM Homes‚ while FM Homes increased slightly in 2002, from 652 to 687‚ bringing the net loss to 66. All areas except the Mideast and Africa had a reduction in CM Homes during 2001. In the Mideast 5 new Homes were pioneered, while in Africa the number of CM Homes remained steady at 55.
49. Pioneering: Over our 34–year history the Family has pioneered and ministered in most of the countries of the world. By the end of the 20th century the Family had Homes on every continent (except Antarctica), spread throughout 102 countries. We now have Homes in a few more countries. The Family pioneered or repioneered works in 5 more countries this year, bringing the total of countries our Family has CM or FM Homes in to 107. That's the most countries we've ever had Homes in at one time, and twice as many countries as the Family had Homes in 10 years ago! That's one big result of the Charter, which came about in 1995.
Population Demographics
50. Where we are: With the launching of the boards this year‚ our continental areas have been divided into regions. The Family's work is regionalized and tailored to a specific area, with each determining their own goals and ways of reaching the people they are called to minister to. 72% of our combined CM/FM Family are in third world or eastern regions, while 28% are in first world/western regions. That's the highest third world/east to first world/west ratio in our Family's history. We're not only winning the world, we're going into all the world!
51. The vast majority of CM members (79%, or 6,373 CMs, up from 77% in 2001) and a little more than half of our FM members (54% or 1,761 FMs, up from 48% in 2001) are in the third world or eastern mission fields. That's the first time the FM Family has had more members in the third world/east than in the first world/west.
52. Here's a regional breakdown of CM/FM Homes and members:
RegionCMFMTotal
HomesHomesHomes
W. Europe85154239
East Eurasia8034114
Africa551065
Mideast27330
Indian Area411354
S.E. Asia253055
China/Pacific673198
Japan523991
US/Canada81177258
Mexico/CA5255107
Spanish SA6863131
Brazil8578163
RegionCMFMTotal
membersmembersmembers
W. Europe8206821,502
East Eurasia726121847
Africa57633609
Mideast44218460
Indian Area52854582
S.E. Asia252189441
China/Pacific586155741
Japan721179900
US/Canada8558061,661
Mexico/CA662256918
Spanish SA8013401,141
Brazil1,0794161‚495
53. Nationalities: The CM Family is made up of 91 nationalities and the FM Family is made up of 70 nationalities. Together our CM and FM Family contain 98 different nationalities. That's 5 more than last year, and the highest ever, as we pioneer new lands and win disciples of all nations.
54. The largest nationality group in the Family is U.S. Americans at 25%; however, the percentage of U.S. Americans in the Family has dropped 5%, from 30% of Family members 5 years ago. Next are the Brazilians at 10% (an increase of 2% in 5 years), Japanese at 6%, Canadians and British at 5% each, Mexicans and Australians at 3.5% each, and French, Argentineans, and Italians (who break into the top 10 for the first time in decades, replacing the Germans) at 3% each.
Our Members
55. Ages: There are currently 6,144 adults (16 and up) and 5,153 children in the CM/FM Family. Because of the dropping birth rate in recent years, and many Family-born second generation children becoming adults, the adult population (16+) in the Family now makes up 54% of our members‚ whereas 10 years ago the number of children (15 and under) was one and a half times the number of adults (16 and up). The breakdown of the ages of our members is as follows:
*32% are children under 12
*14% are 12-15 (our JETTs and juniors are our largest four-year age group in the Family)
*13% are 16-20
*12% are 21 to 29-year-olds
*6% are in their 30s
*15% are in their 40s
*8% are over the age of 50 (We have 18 members in the Family aged 65 and over.)
56. Gender: We are 51% female and 49% male in the Family. Children 11 and under are 48% girls, 52% boys; JETTs and juniors are half girls and half boys; senior teens and YAs are 52% women and 48% men; adults aged 21-39 are 57% women, 43% men; and those 40 and over are 47% women, 53% men.
57. Generations: Of our 11,297 Family members, 67% are of the second (SG) or third (TG) generations, having been born or raised in the Family. We have 7,609 SG/TGs and 3,688 FGs. Though some young SGs decide on a different calling than that of full–time missionaries, many of the second generation are choosing a life of service in the Family‚ as proven by the fact that of the 6,144 adults in the CM/FM Family, 40% (2,456) are of the second generation, slightly more than last year's adult member ratio of 37% SGs.
58. Of the 3,688 adults of the first generation, 21% are under 40, 55% are in their 40s, and 24% are over 50. Of the second and third generations‚ 47% are children, 21% are JETTs and juniors‚ 16% are seniors and YAs, 15% are in their 20s, and 1% (53 members) are in their early thirties. Our oldest SGA raised in the Family is 35 years old (Elise in Chile)‚ and our oldest SGA born in the Family is 32 years old (Nehemiah David, in the US).
59. Marital status: Nearly 50% of Family adults (over 16) are married, many of those being FGAs. 3,051 adults are married and 2,595 (85%) of them are FGAs‚ while just 456 (15%) are SGAs. That means that 70% of all FGAs are married, while only 19% of the SGAs are married. Of course, since about 58% of the SGAs are under 21, it's not surprising that many SGAs are still single.
60. In contrast to the marriage stats, the majority of the singles in the Family are SGA (65%). There are 2,000 SGA singles as compared to 1,093 FGA singles.
61. The singles stats by age and gender are broken down as follows:
*Singles 16 to 20—men 702, women 758, total 1‚460
*Singles 21 to 25—men 378, women 448, total 826
*Singles 26 to 35—men 73, women 124, total 197
*Singles 36 to 49—men 112, women 228‚ total 340
*Singles 50 up—men 145, women 125, total 270
62. Time in the Family: We have 3,688 members in the Family who joined us as adult disciples (FGAs), and the majority (55%) have spent 20 years or more of their lives as missionaries. The average time in the Family for FGAs is 19 years! If you add up the total man–years that the FGAs have served the Lord in the Family, it comes to nearly 70,000 years! It's an honor to serve the Lord in this Family with so many faithful, tried and true missionaries. Of course, we're super thankful for all of you who have joined in recent years as well, and pray we can serve the Lord together for many years to come. Here's a chart listing when our FGAs joined by decade:
1960s882.4%
1970s1,76547.9%
1980s82422.3%
1990s84823.0%
2000s1634.4%
To-date Stats
63. To see all the Lord has done through the Family in the past 34 years is amazing. The Family has won 26.6 million souls. That's over 65,000 souls a month for 34 years. We have personally witnessed about 258 million times‚ which means that for every 10 times we personally witnessed, we've won a soul. We've won over 30,000 disciples in our 34-year history, which means that for every 870 souls led to the Lord, a disciple joined the Family!
64. In the course of our mission to preach the Gospel to every creature, we've distributed 895 million pieces of lit, 119 million posters, 10 million tapes, CDs and CD cards, 1.7 million videos, and in recent years hundreds of thousands of Activated magazines and books! Altogether, counting all the tools and lit the Family has distributed, it comes to over one billion pieces (not pages) distributed!
Worldwide Activated Stats Analysis
65. At the end of October 2001 we had gotten a total of 13,970 subscriptions worldwide. Now, at the end of October 2002, the Family worldwide has gotten a total of 30,669 subscriptions to Activated. That's an increase of 120%! It also means that 20% more people were signed up in 2002 than in the previous three years combined. That's wonderful! God bless all of you for your obedience to the Activated vision!
66. Our best month to date was December 2001, with 2,872 subscriptions. We currently have 19,003 subscribers worldwide.
67. A new Activated desk was set up in Taiwan, and the first Activated subscription mailings in Chinese—a substantial 258 of them—were sent out in October of 2002.
68. Activated is growing and spreading on many fronts worldwide—and you'll hear more details in the reports below from the desks. Keep getting as many people activated as you can!
Brazil, by Matt
69. 220% increase in subscriptions: Brazil is a wonderful field, full of warm, receptive people and dedicated, experienced Family missionaries! This fruitful combination generated an increase of 220% in the number of new subscriptions we sold during 2002.
70. Retreats and seminars promoting Contato! During 2002, our Contato (Activated) team participated in numerous retreats, seminars‚ and assorted other events organized by our national CGO boards (and other local committees), reaching virtually every part of Brazil's huge territory. We were able to offer training and inspiration in the use of the gorgeous Activated materials that the Lord has given us. The biggest of these events was the gigantic Brazil Family national retreat held in June. We were able to minister to the 800 assembled sheep and Family members in an intensive, faith-filled atmosphere.
71. New local pubs: This year we created two new local publications designed to promote the Contato vision. First we created Fazendo Contato (loosely translated "Getting Activated")‚ our newsletter for the Family. We send it each month to all the CM/FM Homes, along with a complimentary copy of the latest Contato mag. The newsletter contains testimonies, reminders, and the latest stats from our local shiner contests.
72. At the end of 2002 we released Contato Brasil. This is a newsletter aimed at the large Active member population here in Brazil. This pub contains testimonies from Active members who have embraced the Activated program and are actively promoting it. It offers tips and inspiration‚ and shows them that they can do it too.
Central/Eastern Europe (CEAD),
by Phillip, Rebeca, Eniko, and Sam
(Note: The CEAD area includes Russia and the CIS.)
73. Activated mag/other translations: This past year we've continued with the translation and publication of Activated mags in the five languages we had started last year (Croatian‚ Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian), plus launching the Activated program in five additional languages (Albanian, Bulgarian, Polish, Serbian‚ and Slovakian). Altogether we printed 80,000 magazines in ten different languages. We also printed the first Bosnian Motivated mag, which will be used to help minister to the many Muslims in that country.
74. As of this report we have Activated mags being mailed out each month in seven languages. These monthly mailings help feed the Lord's sheep in 18 countries throughout Europe and Asia—including places like Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
75. Translation of the 12 Foundation Stones course is rolling in three languages (Hungarian, Romanian, and Russian), and as of this report we've sent out 10 monthly mailings (each mailing consisting of a class and the respective Student Notes) to many hungry and receptive sheep on a subscription basis.
76. We finalized and printed some of the Get Activated books this year. Already six titles are done in Croatian‚ and several Hungarian ones are being printed.
77. Subscriptions skyrocketing: The subscriptions which our desk takes care of grew from 150 last year to 1,757—due to so many of the Homes in Central and Eastern Europe getting behind the Activated program, plus the generous sponsorship of subscriptions from our worldwide Family. Already we are starting to see the fruit of the Activated program in this area, with our first full-time disciple joining—dear Joy in Romania!
78. New Web site: By the time you read this, the CEAD area Web site will be up and running. This site, which will be in 11 languages, can be found at: www.bluebirdfoundation.org. (Many thanks to the WS Activated Web team for letting us "borrow" some of the materials and graphics from the new, updated Activated.org Web site.)
79. Those who make it possible: We'd like to express our sincere appreciation and thanks to our many wonderful translators and proofreaders in our Home and on the field. Some of these are: Svieta, Dove, Virginia, Tim, Pauline‚ Joy (of Abner), Eternity, Faith (of Ben), Joy (of Tim), Jenny‚ Dianna, Dust, Sasha and Sonjia‚ Lucas (of Sophie), Djani‚ Sara, Mihaela, Kris (of Peter)‚ Rebeca, Angel, Christina, Eniko, Gaby, Gloria, Mariange, Csaba, Tim and Claire. Also many thanks to our wonderful layout teams: Tim and Josh in Russia‚ Tim and Joy in Ukraine, and Gabe and David in Hungary.
Chile, by Jonathan Nubes
80. Tool expansion: This past year our sale of tools to the Homes increased enormously. Products like Perlas de Sabiduría (Mottos for Success), and the Discovering Truth and Get Activated series sold very well in all the countries in the southern cone of South America. In fact, we had to reorder several times. This year the Homes moved from solely distributing videos and CDs in their outreach to selling all the new books and products to their friends and contacts, thus strengthening the follow-up of the sheep in the area.
81. Mag of the month program: Another great victory was the implementing of the Activated mag of the month program in Chile and the surrounding countries, which stimulated many Homes to buy copies of the magazine each month to feed their friends and Active members.
82. Events for subscribers: In an effort to make Conéctate (Activated) an all-around program and not just a subscription to a magazine, we organized various events for our disciples and subscribers. We started holding monthly Conéctate meetings in a four–star hotel with skits, live music, children's performances, and a deep Word class. We held several seminars for our subscribers, including a particularly successful one on inner healing. We've also started sending our subscribers regular e-mail bulletins with more feeding materials.
83. 12 Foundation Stones: The translation of this course was finished this year and is now available for all via the Spanish MO site. We also finalized translating eight of the nine booklets that comprise the Get Activated collection so far.
Europe/Africa (EAD), by Peter
84. Activated mailing scope: We send regular Activated mailings in four languages, as well as post the Activated mailings for the CEAD in five additional languages, to nearly 90 countries around the world. The country with the most subscribers is South Africa—the Homes there sent in 500 subscriptions in one month. The newest country to be added to the mailing list was the Cayman Islands.
85. In total, 470 Homes around the world have sent us addresses, some as far away as Paraguay, the Middle East, Uzbekistan‚ Myanmar, and Panama. Our mailing is now over 3,500 magazines per month, and over the last year we have received, on average, enough funds to sponsor subscriptions for 30 to 40 sheep from poorer fields.
86. Mail responses: We receive 35 letters a month from subscribers and people who have received or seen our lit or magazines. Many of these people have asked if they can receive their own copies of the Activated magazines because they had seen one and wanted to know more. The majority of our mail comes from sheep in Africa. Many of them share testimonies of how they share the magazine with their friends and relatives, and testify of how the Word is changing their lives.
87. CD cards are hot sellers: The demand for all types of witnessing tools has increased severalfold, with the CD cards being the top sellers! We filled orders of Aurora products for Family members in over 50 countries, and several bookshops opened accounts with us and now regularly make orders to replenish their shelves.
88. French Activé launched: The first four issues of French Activé were printed in South Africa. We sent out our first Activé mailing in October to about 45 addresses, mostly to subscribers in French Polynesia. Nearly half of the 20,000 Activé magazines have already been bought or ordered in the first few months by brethren ministering to French speakers. Activé is starting to roll!
89. Other European countries are working toward getting Activated into their language as well, notably the Italians and Dutch, who just printed the Christmas magazine in time for this season's witnessing.
90. Promotion: We attended four area fellowships in Europe to promote Activated and encourage more brethren to participate by using the magazine of the month (MOTM) in their witnessing. The number of Homes ordering MOTM each month is slowly increasing as people see the positive fruit of feeding their sheep in this way. One longtime contact remarked: "Now I understand what I have been contributing to all these years!"
91. Thank you, sponsors: We want to express our heartfelt thanks to our wonderful Family all over the world for their donations‚ which sponsor subscriptions for sheep in poorer fields. We would also like to say a BIG thank-you to those who gave donations to make the printing of the French Activé possible.
Colombia, by Normy
(Note: Normy, who now manages the Colombia desk, is a new disciple won to the Family [in 2001] through the Conéctate magazine!)
92. Activated increase: During the 2001 Christmas push we sold 600 Activated magazines to the Homes for distribution; this year during the same season we sold 3‚000! Every month this year sales have increased. We are working closely with the CGO board, resulting in more subscriptions, more Active members, prayer groups, and student groups of the 12 Foundation Stones, as well as the Conéctate magazine and Get Activated books.
93. Promotional/marketing meetings: We recently held promotional and marketing meetings in Colombia and Venezuela, with the participation of close to one hundred CM, FM‚ Active members, and Conéctate friends. Many shared testimonies of how Conéctate has changed their lives.
Taiwan, by Andy
94. Taiwan Activated launch: In the year of the horse on the Chinese lunar calendar (2002), the Chinese Activated program was launched in Taiwan! To the Chinese the horse is a symbol of victory and good news‚ because it was on horseback that good news arrived speedily from across the vast regions of the ancient Chinese empire. To us it represents a victory for all working on the Word in Chinese, as well as our wildly willing Activated distributors and the sheep‚ as our first six magazines rolled off the presses this September!
95. Activated seminar: Not long after the birth of the first Chinese Activated magazine, we held a two–day Activated and witnessing seminar in the city of Taichung. Representatives from every Home in Taiwan attended, and we covered the very HOT topic of how to initiate the Activated program throughout the country. The regional CGO board and the Taiwan PC gave presentations and covered many aspects of promoting the Activated vision, including how to market and distribute our wonderful tools.
96. Subscription challenge: The Taiwan Homes took up the challenge to sell subscriptions, resulting in 258 subscriptions by October 31—within the first six weeks! Half the cost of printing the first six magazines was covered by funds raised locally by the Homes, and the other half was covered by one of our already "activated" Chinese friends. We have now printed our seventh Activated magazine, the Christmas issue.
97. PC reorganization: The Taiwan PC has been reorganized and tool distribution increased dramatically toward the end of 2002.
India, by Penny
98. Subscriptions and follow-up: Our subscriptions boomed last November (2001) with close to 800 subscriptions, followed by over 1,400 in December (2001). After that they evened out to a steady average of 300 new subscriptions every month. This year we received our first third-year renewal and continue to receive some every month. During October 2001–October 2002, our desk received almost 7,000 subscriptions, out of which over 1‚500 were renewals.
99. E-mail/mail boom: Our GP e-mail ministry took off in 2002. We average about 75 e-mails a month. People write in for a subscription, products, prayer, or advice. A number of retail sales (passed on to the Homes) have also been generated. We also receive over 30 letters in the mail from subscribers every month.
100. Mass distribution of mags: In November 2001, the Lord confirmed that our desk should take on getting out the 62,800 "old style" Activated mags that were at the U.S. desk. These, along with older mags we already had in stock, made a total of over 75,000 mags that we committed to get out all over India at subsidized and very discounted prices. God bless the brethren around the world who sent in funds to help pay for this as a result of our Grapevine ad. Many Homes in the country went on the attack in their distribution of these mags, and as of this report we only have 14,000 left and have raised nearly half the money to pay for these!
101. Tool distribution: Tool distribution in India is at an all-time high and has increased over the past year by 100%. Mottos for Success continues to be our top selling tool. The full-color version was a tremendous asset and boosted sales. Last year we sold around 45,000 pieces.
102. New Year's tool: Toward the end of 2001 we made a customized New Year's tool for the field—the Mottos for Success Weekly Desktop Planner. Bili, an Active member‚ helped design the planner, and another close friend let us use his agency for the computer work. By the end of November 2001 the Homes had ordered and sold over 32‚000 of these planners.
103. Board vision enhances Activated: Working closer to the CGO board is a victory, as we have more of a pulse on what the outreach folks want and need. One of the CGO boards made sets of all the Activated magazines (issues 1-16) and spiral bound them with a hard cover and a table of contents. (A book with Activated mags 1-9 will soon be available to the Homes worldwide via the Europe Activated desk.) This proved to be a tremendous follow–up tool. Also, a number of retreats have taken place throughout the country for Active members, strengthening them spiritually.
104. Book fairs: Our Activated desk participated in two international book fairs this year—one in Delhi (February 2002) and the second in Mumbai (October 2002). Both have resulted in greater exposure for Aurora products, as well as renewing the vision of the Homes for tool distribution. The October fair was followed by the exciting visit of Scott MacGregor to promote his book God on God. (Note: See more on this later in this GN.)
Japan, by the Japan Activated team
105. Subscriptions: The Japan Activated desk was set up in November 2001. In its first year as an established Activated desk, Activate Japan Inc. has produced and mailed issues 1-12 of the Japanese Activated magazine. These 12 mags make up the core of what is being called the "Bible Study Course." These magazines basically cover the same topics as the English magazine, but a few parts have been replaced to make it more relatable to the Japanese. This course lasts one year rather than being an ongoing course.
106. Bimonthly course: This year we also launched a bimonthly Activated magazine course. This new subscription will be made to fit those who have just come to know the Lord, as well as those who have been through the current one-year subscription program. The first issue of this bimonthly subscription has been printed and will be ready to mail in January 2003.
107. Marketing: The CD cards were sold at large stores, English schools, department stores, music stores, stationery stores, etc. The wire-frame CD card stands were a big blessing, and we also produced labels/stickers containing the price and card-type. The Mottos for Success calendar was sold to some companies as holiday gifts for their employees.
108. Catching the vision: The Homes are getting out the Activated magazine even in this non–Christian country, and we have received 791 subscriptions so far! (Not to mention all the individual magazines that the Family is getting out in their regular outreach.) Our Active members are also catching the vision‚ including one sweet lady who has sponsored 44 subscriptions, God bless her!
Mexico, by Phoebe
109. Reorganized and relocated: 2002 was a year of complete reorganization for our desk. We have a brand-new team, with only two members remaining from the original team. We relocated our operation‚ and instead of having to commute to the office every day, we now have our living quarters, office‚ and warehouse together, thus cutting our expenses by almost half.
110. Witnessing seminar: In cooperation with the Northern Mexico CGO board, we helped organize a witnessing seminar for all the Homes of Northern Mexico, which was attended by 35 brethren, representing 10 Homes from four different cities. It was envisioning, inspiring, and unifying‚ showing the great potential of the board vision.
111. New products: Three new children's CD cards in Spanish; Sucedió Una Navidad (A Christmas to Remember) booklet, with a new cover and accompanied by a popular CD of Christmas songs; six new Christmas CD cards, designed by Agnes; three new wall calendars, which go like hot cakes. We're in the process of producing four Treasure Attic titles in VCD in English and Spanish as a test run.
112. Special production: This year we pioneered the customization of one of our GP children's books (Farmyard Heroes) for a big local company, adding their logo to our own graphics, and inserting a message from them on the cover. We offered to provide similar customizations for the Homes.
USA, by Cassie
113. Sponsored subscriptions and mag of the month: Distribution of the Activated magazine has taken off this year‚ with 225,000 magazines distributed by the Homes in North America—a 78% increase over the previous year. Our mag of the month program now stands at about 7,500 English and 800 Spanish mags a month. Through the mag of the month program, Homes sign up for a six-month subscription of 100 to 1,000 Activated mags of the month, which they can use for distribution and in the personal follow-up and feeding of their contacts, friends, and sheep. This has proven to be a key in building our Activated flock. The sheep that the Homes are feeding regularly with the magazines tend to support the Home with a tithe or donation instead of just the cost of the subscription.
114. CGO/Activated seminar: It's been a blessing to work together with the NA CGO board to help the Homes with their Activated follow–up and tool distribution. In September we helped to host a four-day CGO/Activated seminar, attended by approximately 200 FM/CM Family members. The goal of this seminar was to take the Activated vision further here in North America and provide practical advice and counsel to foster the growth of fruitful works‚ give tips and counsel on reaching the rich, encourage successful Activated flocks and groups, reach specific ethnic groups, and provide advanced counsel for a variety of Family outreach and follow–up ministries.
115. We set up a tool sales booth at the seminar so that attendees could buy their Christmas tools directly and save on shipping costs. Homes were able to see and take home with them all the new Christmas tools as well as new helps for getting them out, such as cardstock displays, wire spinners, and clip strips. Many Homes were able to get an earlier start with their Christmas outreach than in previous years‚ by getting out the CD cards to stores and businesses in September and October.
116. Distribution: During Christmas 2001 the NA Family distributed 70‚000 Christmas CD cards, which was an increase of 50% over the previous year. We are presently well on our way toward a united goal for our area of 100,000 Christmas CD cards distributed during the 2002 season.
The Future of Activated
117. (Peter: ) Mama and I are so encouraged by the progress that is being made on the Activated front. We know that each and every subscription that comes in to the Activated desks represents your faithfulness and commitment to obey the Word, not to mention your blood, sweat, and tears in getting out the door day in and day out to reach more people with Activated, to offer them subscriptions, and in many cases, to practically beg them to receive the feeding that they desperately need. It's hard work, there's no doubt about that. But the rewards are well worth it.
118. Just think about it for a minute. There are 30,000 people who have subscribed to Activated. Not only does that mean that you've reached 30,000 people with the message who might not have received it otherwise; more importantly, it means that these tens of thousands of people have been fed the Word regularly, not just every now and then. Month after month the Activated magazine arrives in their mailbox and stays with them. It's there for them any time they want to read it and be fed.
119. By and large, these people are growing. They are receptive and they are drinking the Word in through the Activated mags, and the Lord is using this Word to change their hearts and lives. You may not see a change immediately in the subscribers who you visit or see regularly. You may not see a change for many months in those you rarely visit or who live far away. You may not ever see the change or results in those who never hook up personally with the Family again. But nevertheless, the Word is working in their hearts. It never returns void; that's the Lord's promise. And down the line, whether in a few months, a few years, or several, these very people who have been faithfully fed are going to come to the fore to protect and provide for you, for your Home, for the Family at large. These people are going to stand up for you and your children, for your ministry and testimony, and for your way of life.
120. This is the time of sowing the seeds. While we're already seeing initial fruit, we haven't yet reaped the Activated harvest that the Lord has promised will come. So when you're faced with another day out witnessing, one more time of hearing from the Lord about where to go‚ who to activate, and how to have a fruitful day, remember the coming harvest. You're not only laying up for yourselves treasures in Heaven through your obedience; you're also building a base of supporters who will in time rise up to stand by you and help to provide for you. The more you feed your sheep and follow up on them, the stronger they will grow, and the closer they will grow to the Family. But the sowing of the seed has to be done first, and that's what we're doing now!
121. Many Homes already have blossoming follow-up works and are giving regular Bible studies, holding weekly or monthly Church of Love meetings, seminars, retreats‚ etc. Active members, Activated subscribers, sheep, and friends are becoming a bigger focus in daily Family life. They're coming over and visiting‚ helping with your Home's projects, and growing in the faith. But it's just the beginning. These ones are the initial fruit‚ the first fruit. As we sow the seed in great abundance, the full harvest will come into view and will be much more immense than you can possibly imagine right now.
122. That sounds a bit scary, doesn't it? You might feel you can't take on one more sheep than you have now! But you're just getting started. You're getting cranked up. You're learning the follow-up ropes, and it takes time. As you go along, you'll find better ways to feed more sheep, and the Active members that you've trained will stand beside you to help teach the next group of sheep. The Lord has a plan, and as the fields turn white and are ready to harvest, He'll show us how to gather it in and care for it.
123. It's exciting! Mama and I are thrilled! We're so proud of you who are making Activated happen. It's your ministry! You're the ones who are getting those subscriptions and guaranteeing that the sheep you meet are taken care of and fed. Keep up the good work! And those of you who haven't launched out yet with Activated‚ don't miss out! Don't delay. Don't miss the Lord's blessings and the blessing of knowing that you're giving your sheep the care they need and deserve. Ask the Lord how to make Activated an integral part of your Home, and He'll show you. Then just do it! Put Him on the spot. He won't fail you. And you'll have Activated subscriptions, sheep, and a thriving follow-up work to show for it!
New GP Tools from WS
124. Thanks to your prayers and the hard work of our GP team and many of you who have contributed, the Family received a great variety of new tools this past year. If you haven't tried getting them out yet, please do so! Each one is a treasure! (Please note that while all these products have been created this year, not all have been produced for distribution yet and they may not be available from your local PC.)
*Rhythm of Christmas: A brand-new Christmas CD!—Included in the new Christmas CD cards, and available separately as well.
*18 new CD cards
•6 Christmas cards
•the first 4 of a line of children's cards
•the "friendship collection"—4 cards‚ including one especially for mothers
•the "sympathy collection"—4 cards with the Fear Not CD included
*12 new Activated monthly mags: November 2001 through October 2002 issues
*2 new Mountain Streams books: More Than Conquerors (10 MO Letters, including "Beauty for Ashes," "But if Not," and "Benefits of Backsliding") and Greater Victories (7 meaty MO Letters including "Dumps," "Fighters," and "Attack Your Fears")
*4 From Jesus With Love books in gift-book format: The original GP FJWL in a new format, as well as 3 books with all new content: From Jesus With Love for Women, From Jesus With Love for the Golden Years, and Who Cares? (FJWL for teenagers)
*Grandpa Jake's Storybook: The "Insects Galore" series of six (this is a Heaven's Library feature which we're producing in color, with a few small modifications)
*Mottos for Success‚ Vol. II: Will be printed and made available some time in 2003.
*A Christmas Secret booklet/drama combo: We've experimented with a new type of product; that is, having a small children's storybook shrink-wrapped with a CD containing a dramatized version of the same story (recorded by the Radio Active team in Uganda, God bless them). The CD had the same drama in four different languages (English‚ Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese), and we printed the booklet in those languages as well. It seems to have been a success, and we'll be implementing the same formula with other storybooks as well.
*God on God: An exciting collection of candid interviews with God Himself! Soon to be available for distribution worldwide (in English).
*"Who Pulls the Strings": New radical Endtime poster!
125. Follow-up material: Last year we completed and posted the 12 Foundation Stones classes. This year the 12 Foundation Stones Teachers' Supplement‚ including a variety of aids to go along with the classes, was finalized, and that is now posted on the MO site as well. The printed versions of the 12 Foundation Stones class book, Study Notes book and Teachers Supplement are still in the works and will be printed in 2003, God willing. Work has begun on the second set of classes for the Activated Training Course; the course outline and overview has been counseled and prayed about, and this coming year the course will seriously begin to take shape. Please keep this in your prayers as it's a major undertaking.
126. Tool translations: Many of our products have been produced in several new languages this year, notably the Mottos for Success perpetual calendar, which we now have available in a total of 14 languages. God bless all those in the LIMs, Lit-Pics, and Activated desks who have worked hard on translating and proofreading and helping with layout.
127. Aurora 2003 catalog: In the same mailing as this GN your Home should be receiving a copy of the Aurora 2003 catalog with a complete listing of all current GP Aurora products. Please note that although these items are print-ready, they may not be available in your local language or from your local PC yet. It may take a while for some to be available in your area‚ and your PCs (Service Centers or PPCs) will keep you updated as new products become available for distribution where you are.
GP Tools Coming in 2003!
By the WS GP team
128. These items may not all be available at your PC in 2003, but we hope to have them all print-ready this coming year. Please pray for us!
*Get Activated style booklet on Creation vs. Evolution
*Get Activated booklet on Marriage
*Re-edited GP Daily Might
*Two new booklets on the Endtime, covering the Rise of the AC to the New Heaven and New Earth; plus an updated version of The Future Foretold
*A second Interactive CD based on the two Treasure Attic videos "Fantastic Journey" and "Forever Friend"
*Three new Trudge and Zippy children's storybooks
*An audio CD to accompany the Feed My Lambs set, with all the verses in song
*A new "lullaby" CD along the lines of Sweet Dreams Tonight
*New From Jesus With Love gift books: "For Troubled Times," "For Parents," and possibly others
*A couple of TAs in DVD format, with multiple languages on the same DVD
*New CD cards, including a series for baby showers, "thinking of you," etc.
*Several new children's posters
*A couple of new Endtime posters for young people, including "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
*Two more Mountain Streams books, D.V.!
*One or two GP CDs with Loving Jesus style songs
Aurora Update 2002
By the Aurora team, Europe
129. Our team's main focus this past year has been twofold: 1) To continue to pioneer commercial marketing of Aurora's products by showcasing them at international book fairs, where they have been well received so far, TTL! 2) We print and ship to the PCs the monthly Activated magazines and most of the CD cards, books, and multimedia products distributed by the Family worldwide in English, and some in other languages too (for example, we printed Mottos for Success in 13 languages this year, and Feed My Lambs in 5 languages).
130. We're very happy to be serving the Lord in this way and get into the hands of Family Homes, through the PCs, the new products that the Lord is pouring out. God bless our print team in Thailand, who handle a lot of this very big part of our job.
131. On the production side, in 2002 our Thailand team did 70 different print projects or print runs (sometimes consisting of several products or languages in one run), totaling 1.4 million products (pieces, not pages) including books, magazines, interactive CDs, and CD cards. (None of these were simple posters, so they're all fairly involved print jobs!) And that's not including about 300,000 flyers also printed. To supply the PCs they sent out a total of 177 shipments to 28 countries. This included 96 sea freight shipments totaling 281 cubic meters, plus 90 airfreight shipments totaling 6.2 tons!
132. On the marketing front, though we're in our third year of attending book fairs, we're still in the "pioneering" stages, as it takes time for the products to become known‚ to win customers' confidence and settle deals, etc. However, it's been very encouraging to see the progress that has been made, starting from scratch the first year with no contacts or know-how or experience, to this year where the Lord has helped us to land a number of commercial deals for getting out the products in countries or markets where there is little Family distribution, thus increasing the witness! Though we are not yet anywhere near hitting "the big time‚" sales are increasing bit by bit, and the revenue is helping to sustain these pioneer efforts as well as to help fund production of the large number of new GP products which have been released over the last two years, enhancing the Family's witnessing and fundraising efforts.
133. We'd like to acknowledge the Lord and the power of the keys for anything good that has been accomplished this year, seeing that we have no previous experience in this line of work, other than getting out the tools through one on one sales such as DTD. It's definitely a "work in progress" and we learn something new almost every day, but it is exciting to see the endless possibilities of what can be done to reach the world with our wonderful tools.
134. In 2002 our team attended 8 international book fairs: New Delhi, London, Bologna (Italy, the largest children's book fair in the world), Frankfurt (the largest yearly book fair in the world), South Africa/Zimbabwe, Guadalajara (Mexico, the largest book fair for the Spanish–speaking world), and New York. In all but one of these fairs we had the blessing of being able to work side by side with wonderful Family members from those countries, something we always appreciate and look forward to. Family sales reps are definitely the best sales reps around. You can't beat 'em for enthusiasm, faith, perseverance, and initiative. The Homes and PCs that attended the book fairs with our Aurora team were able to follow up on people they met at the fairs‚ and as a result, met some fruitful distribution contacts.
135. Largely as a result of attending these book fairs, this year we were able to meet companies who agreed to purchase our products for distribution within their particular countries or markets, including the following countries: Nigeria‚ Greece, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia‚ HK, Hungary, Poland‚ Korea, Kenya, Wales, and Australia. Some of the products sold to commercial companies include:
*20,000 CD cards
*13,000 Mottos for Success
*4,000 Feed My Lambs sets
*7,300 A Christmas Secret storybook in large hardback format
*6,500 Discovering Truth books
*1,400 Stories to Grow By books
*1,200 Start Early poster sets, and Jesus and Me and Praisin' U sets
136. One inspiring side benefit of the commercial deals that the Lord has opened up so far is that it's made it possible for some products to be translated into languages we most likely would not have translated them into otherwise, due to a lack of resources. A few examples are the Mottos for Success in Hungarian (being printed in 2003‚ D.V.) and Greek, A Christmas Secret in Greek, and Feed My Lambs in Welsh. If you're wondering about that last one‚ yes, Welsh is its own language completely unrelated to English.
137. Thanks for your prayers for our continued efforts to get the message out as well as help provide the Family with the tools needed for witnessing and fundraising.
Book Launch: God on God
138. A groundbreaking event this year was the publishing in India of God on God and the subsequent publicity tour. This book was received in prophecy by Scott (Luke) in WS a couple of years ago. Penguin Books India published it in August of 2002, and in November 2002 Scott went on a four-week book launch tour, hosted and paid for in large part by a leading resort management company. He traveled to three of India's major cities—Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai—for book-launching events, complete with interviews, signings, media publicity and all. Our wonderful Family in India helped with organizing the events, provisioning hotels, performing, and more. (If you haven't read it yet‚ check out the feature story about the God on God tour in Grapevine #146—photos and news articles included.)
Web Year-end Report
By the WS Web team
139. This year we continued to focus on expanding our existing Web sites, as well as on the continued production and launch of the new Activated Web site. A lot of new content was added to our four main sites, and we continue to see an increase in online audience and subscribers to the daily and/or weekly mailings we send via e-mail from the GP site, the MO site, and now the Activated site.
140. Here is a site-by-site analysis of some of the progress that has been made this past year:
ACTIVATED.ORG
141. After a long stay in the production stages, the new Activated Web site was launched May 1, 2002. Its goal was‚ and continues to be, support for the Activated revolution by representing the Activated program on the web.
142. The site serves two main purposes‚ the first of which is to feed the sheep. The Web site address is printed on most English versions of the magazine, so when people visit our site, or come across it via links‚ or while just browsing the Web, we have a lot of Word and positive spiritual content for them to dig into. We go beyond the magazines by offering daily readings (Daily Might‚ FJWLs, Praise Readings)‚ full online contents of the mags, lots of our Activated books, the parenting series, and some HL novels.
143. We update this site at least once a week so that it will be a place that our online sheep will hopefully want to return to frequently to see what the newest additions or features are. We also provide e-mail subscription to our content, much like on thefamily.org.
144. The second main thrust of the site is to advertise the magazines and other GP products, and to hopefully generate sales and subscriptions. We are set up for online subscription requests from anywhere in the world, that are then directed to the appropriate Activated desk. Another neat feature we have is a section advertising the need for sponsorships of either whole subscriptions or individual magazines. This allows people to express their interest in donations of this kind that the Activated desks can follow up on. So far we've received 104 online subscription requests for the Activated mags‚ as well as five sponsorships for mags.
145. Here are a couple of comments from two mag sponsors:
Country: India
How much do you want
to donate?: Five
Message or comments: May these books
fulfill the Lord's
last commission.
Country:Kuwait
How much do you want
to donate?:Twenty
Is there any particular area of the world, or missionary endeavor that you would like to give your subscriptions to?:
To the poor and needy. To those who are in need of our prayers. To those who are looking for inward peace of mind and heart. To those who are striving for spiritual joy.
146. We hope and pray that this site can be all that the Lord and the Family need it to be, and we'll do our best to help that happen. Please use it in your outreach and follow-up as much as you're able. It's a great tool, and it's just waiting for you to publicize it and send your friends and contacts there. If you're not sure what's on the site or haven't had a look yet, feel free to check it out at www.activated.org.
STATS
Total downloaded: 4.5GB
Total visits: 30,454
Distinct visits: 18,910
Daily average: 83
Total people subscribed to e-mail from this site: 107
THEFAMILY.ORG
147. The GP site has continued to do what it's best at: being the GP face for our worldwide missionary group and a source of feeding and witnessing to all who come its way. We have continued to make regular updates and maintain the existing sections that are there. It's still doing its job as well as ever, is expanding, and continues to be an irreplaceable part of our GP outreach and PR worldwide.
STATS
Total downloaded: 422.3GB
Total visits: 393,942
Distinct visits: 109,153
Daily average: 1,070
Total MLs downloaded: 24,558
Total MP3s downloaded: 10,505
Total e-cards sent: 8,336
Clicks on "I've prayed this prayer" link: 667
Total people subscribed to e-mail from this site: 522
Total e-mails sent: 230,116
Site updated (approximately): 8 times per week (417 times)
AURORAPRODUCTION.COM
148. The Aurora Web site supplies information and previews for most of our GP products. This year a few important changes were made, such as adding an "information request form" to each product‚ which should help facilitate people purchasing the products and helping us communicate with companies or groups interested in producing our products. A distributors section was also added.
149. We've kept this site current as new GP tools were released and changes were made this year in our back-end setup to help things be more organized, as the Aurora site now provides all the product information for Activated.org and needed to be ready to handle the demands which that would produce.
STATS
Total downloaded: 5.3GB
Total visits: 47‚502
Distinct visits: 17,913
Daily average: 129
FAMILYMEMBERS.COM
150. The MO site was greatly expanded this year and updated daily. Presently on the site there are 4,783 pubs, 6,617 MP3s, 1,602 newswire articles, and 13,259 photos—and MUCH more! This site has a wealth of Word, is a resource of materials and information on an array of topics, and is a great source of fellowship and inspiration for Family members around the world, which we pray you are using and benefiting from.
151. Maintaining and expanding a site this size, with 1,145 unique users, is a big job. We've answered well over 4,500 e-mails concerning PGP, site access, tech support, and a variety of other questions this past year. We want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who communicated with us and may not have received an answer as quickly as you may have liked for your patience, as well as to all of you who faithfully contributed to the site.
152. Other than maintaining and adding to the MO site, we've dedicated a considerable amount of time this year to revamping, redoing‚ and consolidating much of the back-end databases of our sites. This is probably our most ambitious project to date, but God willing our sites will run better and more efficiently, with additional features (stay tuned!), once they have new and improved programming behind them. Thank you for your prayers for this project.
STATS
Total downloaded: 420.3GB
Total visits: 460‚878
Distinct visits: 95‚364
Daily average: 1,252
Total pubs downloaded: 48,872
Total MP3s downloaded: 41,537
Total pubs e-mails sent: 55‚013
Total daily news e-mails sent: 40,138
Total Homes subscribed to receive pubs by e-mail: 514
Total people subscribed to receive the daily news by e–mail: 272
Total GNs e-mailed: 21,208
Total number of user accounts: 1,145
Site updated (approximately): 8 times per week (417 times)
COUNTDOWN.ORG
Total visits: 568,505
Total hits: 9,252,747
Total downloaded: 101GB
JEREMYSPENCER.COM
Total visits: 41,588
Total hits: 626‚270
Total downloaded: 6GB
Other stat tidbits
153. Here are a few stats along the lines of work that goes into the sites from our end, which you might find interesting:
Number of html pages in all our Web sites: 9,981
Database entries: 72,663
Lines of code written: 60,331
Total amount of Web site data: 32.6 GB
Number of sites we host: 18 (These are various local area sponsored Family sites; e.g., local language Activated sites, etc.)
Family GP E-mail Ministry
By the U.S. Activated team
154. The past year was another tremendous year of follow-up fruit from the Family Web sites through the e-mail ministry. Every month we receive from 250-300 e–mails at the GP Family e-mail box (family@thefamily.org), which put us in touch with sheep from all over the world! It would be impossible to know how many GP e–mail messages are received and handled by Family offices each month, because once a sheep or contact is passed on to their local area for follow-up, then all their future correspondence is taken care of locally, but we know that this ministry has been growing and expanding tremendously over the last couple of years. Special thanks and appreciation to the dear ones who work behind the scenes to make the Family Web sites such tremendous witnessing and feeding tools, and also to those who so faithfully answer the mail that never stops coming in!—Including Linda in North America, Celeste for Europe and Africa, and Laura for Latin America.
155. We've continued to send out the "E-mail of the Day," which is a GP e-mail message that is chosen by our e-mail answering team each day that we send around to our co-workers, other Family offices, and Homes that have requested copies, so everyone can read some of the letters we receive on a day-to-day basis. If you would like to receive the E–mail of the Day, please send us a note at family@thefamily.org asking to be put on the E-mail of the Day mailing list.
156. We often have people write in to the Family e–mail address who want to get in touch with a local Home or possibly join the Family. There have been a number of former Family members who have found us by searching on the Web. Here are a couple of testimonies of those who joined or are on the verge of joining because they found us on the Internet and were then followed up on by the local Family:
By Jim‚ who has now joined one of the CM Homes in Austin, Texas
Hi! Oh, have I been in contact [with the Home]! I even cooked dinner at the Home on Monday for all 16 of us. The Home here is apparently a stop station for many of the members in Mexico who travel to the States to take care of business. I've met people from Leon and Saltillo, and a man and his son from Ottawa who are planning to move to Mexico in the coming months. I've also been invited to travel with a team to Honduras. We leave on Monday morning and will spend time in Monterrey, Mexico City, Leon, and then go straight to San Pedro Sula in Honduras. We're bringing a sampling of medical supplies and are setting up for a much larger shipment to follow soon. Every time I visit the Home I feel very welcome and can feel the Spirit strongly. My goal is to have all my possessions gone by mid-September and then I'll see about moving in.
By Jon (formerly Carl) in Brazil, about a sheep who was passed on to their Home for follow-up
GBY! I want to share the wonderful news. We met Tommy O., who turned out to be one of the sheepiest people I've met in 20 years! Wow! He loved meeting us, received Jesus, and today was filled with the Spirit. He stayed with us overnight last night and says he wants to return to Brazil. He left today for Sweden, but spent three days getting fed and poured into. We shared EVERYTHING with this sheep. He was so turned on. He wants to come and live with us, to consider becoming a full-time missionary. He fell in love with us all. He said he feels a complete kindred spirit with us‚ and he wants to dedicate his life and time to helping others. He loved the MO Letters and loved our songs. He was planning to return to Southern China, where he has worked two years, but now he wants to come here and see if he has what it takes to become a missionary. I know it is fast, but this guy is so turned on‚ you just would hardly believe it.
Wine Press Recap
By the U.S. Activated team
157. This year the Wine Press celebrated its five-year anniversary with a grand total of 64 Wine Press magazines published to date. We now have 370 Active and former members who receive the monthly Wine Press mailings in North America, an increase of 54% over last year's total. The European Wine Press team also sends the Wine Press mailings to approximately 100 Active members every month.
158. In 2002 we published 13 Wine Presses (including a special edition for Christmas), which included DFO versions of the "Keys" series, the "Comfort in Affliction" series, the "Intercessory Prayer" series, "Rising Above," "Keys to Victory" (Comparing, Changing Habits), "Leadership Lessons" and more.
Text box:
For those of you not familiar with the Wine Press‚ each issue is a 28 to 36-page DFO magazine published monthly, geared specifically for Active and former Family members. These magazines consist of both new and old Letters, testimonies from various Family publications, and other feeding reading. Reflections, FARs, HTKs‚ Heaven's Library mags, END excerpts, and other such materials are also included in the mailing packet.
Every month the Letters that have been edited and included in the Wine Press are also laid out individually under the masthead "New Wine" and posted on the Members Only site for downloading. These can be used for follow-up and feeding of Active members and potential disciples. These "New Wine" Letters are also translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese.
159. Besides the Wine Press, we also send out a monthly newsletter called "What's Up," which features testimonies, photos, and reactions from Wine Press members. Since a good part of the Wine Press readership are former Family members‚ some of whom have been out of touch with the Family for many years, we're working on a set of introductory magazines to bring new subscribers up to date on the New Wine and new moves of the Spirit, such as the new weapons, prophecy, Loving Jesus, the keys, the study month GNs, etc. Thanks for keeping this project in your prayers.
Text box:
Please send the addresses of former members that you know who may be interested in receiving the Wine Press mailings to: family@thefamily.org
160. We're always thrilled and encouraged to see the tremendous fruit that the Word has borne in the lives of those who receive the Wine Press. Here are just a few inspiring reactions:
"Looking back, my greatest wealth was my years in the Family of Love or Children of God. When I'm being tested, I'm amazed how all the verses and quotes come alive to help me. Thanks for sending me the Wine Press."
—Arnold
"A lot of things are happening in my life ever since I left the Family. There have been a lot of heartaches and battles, but with every battle and hardship, I thank HIM for faithfully pulling me through those tough times. I don't know what led me to search the Web for your group. At first I was having a hard time looking because I didn't know where to start, but thank You‚ Jesus, I was able to find your site. A lot of good memories of my service with your group and the lessons I learned from the Family came back to me‚ and I was thankful and grateful for your group. Whatever good that comes out of me‚ I owe it to Him and to the Family. I just wish and pray that I will have the chance to meet with you guys again and be able to meet some of my co-workers from the Family before. I really miss you guys. Keep me in your prayers."
—Ariel
"This past year was the best yet.—A year in which I felt His love in the most marvelous ways, so happy to be His bride and one who has a Husband ever ready to ravish me with His love and speak to me more clearly through prophecy. Thank you for sending me the Word of life that has activated my life and transformed me this past year. I have a burning desire to join with you closer. I feel in touch with you in spirit, even though I am alone serving the Lord here. I'm struggling, though, to be an active witness and missionary. I feel some kind of shove and explosion to break free and be once again a real child of God in the spirit of David. I feel very much part of the Family in spirit‚ but also know that at this point my works follow far behind. May the excitement of the great things the Lord has in store for you this next year fill your hearts as you enter the New Year."
—Justus
"Dear Children of God, I want to thank you guys for your faithful sending of the Wine Press and other material. I remember some very pleasant things that happened to me a long time ago in a place called Thurber, Texas‚ where you ol' timers may remember. They are just simple things that impressed me. One is they had a saying, 'Pray first.' I mean they had these little signs stuck on everything, 'Pray first.' They even had it stuck in the restroom right by the toilet paper. In fact, that is the first time it really impressed me. I mean, it ain't like it was a major decision as to what to do next. That little saying stuck in my mind for a long time and I've been trying to do that very thing (pray first) lately, and it gives me comfort every time I do it. Thank You, Jesus, for those sweet people way back then and for Mo. What a wonderful experience that was. I better hush or I'm gonna make myself cry, and a man ain't supposed to cry."
—Jerry and Judy
"I LOVE you guys more than any words or letters could ever begin to say. Sometimes I don't know what to do. But there is always Dad and you guys. So I can keep going and keep looking to Jesus. Only because of Mama and the love shown by Dad and all the guys some 30 years ago. There's just NO love like Family love. I may not be right there with you, but please know this: MY HEART WILL ALWAYS BE‚ CHILDREN OF GOD. I'm only able to stay here in this world because of what I learned from you so long ago. I love you with all that I am."
—Stephen
WS Audio Progress Report for 2002
By Barry and Windy, for the WSA team
GP Releases
161. Family music is still very much alive and kicking, and the beat goes on—with lots of plans and productions for 2003. Due to the demand for more Christmas material, the Lord worked it out for Michael Fogarty, John Listen, Joyful, Angelina, and Christy to collaborate in Thailand for work on the new Christmas CD, Rhythm of Christmas. Jerry Paladino, Francesco‚ and Jason Lawrence also gave of their vocal talents for this CD with some beautiful songs to help celebrate the season. Thanks also to Andrew V., now producing from his studio in Mexico, and Michael Piano and Jono for their contributions to this project.
162. Another GP tool produced in 2002 was Thoughts to Love and Live By—Parts 1 and 2‚ which were recorded in our WSA studio, and read by Crystal Lily. Accompanied by beautiful music and nature sounds, the Mottos for Success quotes are now a two-part CD set available as CD cards. The theme for recording was to picture a sweet and warm-hearted young woman, reading wise words to encourage and uplift during your day, whether at work‚ driving, resting, or for use in waiting rooms and lobbies. The calming effect of rolling ocean waves, or the sweet singing of birds blending with the background music, and soothing dialogue make for a soothing combination for many situations.
TCD Releases
163. The following TCDs were released in 2002: I'll Be There and Break Away. New TCDs awaiting release in 2003 include the following genres: Dance, R&B, Alternative/Rock, and a full-on RAP CD! Other CDs in the works are a New Features CD, and a witnessing songs CD (comprised of songs that can be learned for your witnessing, or played to your sheep for inspiration and feeding), and we now have enough songs to record two new Loving Jesus-type CDs.
164. Since the release of the GN "The Lord's Calling You to Write Songs," we have received almost 100 new songs from around the world, and new ones are coming in on a regular basis. It's inspiring to see and hear the fruits of the counsel the Lord and Mama have given.
Children's CDs—GP and Family
165. In the children's songs department, a new lullaby CD‚ Siesta Street, has been mastered and sent off for duplication, and you should be receiving your Home's copy sometime early in the New Year. The strategy behind this new CD is to capture the attention of children as they prepare for bed, naps, or even quiet time. The first section of the CD starts with a series of story songs to both calm and entertain, and then the soothing songs come in to help little ones drift into dreamland bliss.
166. A new GP educational songs CD is ready to be mastered, and will be released in 2003, as well as another new KAT CD, packed with praise and other fun songs for our kids. Plus, a children's CD with songs for reveille is in the works; several songs have been recorded already, and during the course of the upcoming year‚ the remaining songs will be finished and ready for release.—A great tool for inspiring those little soldiers with positive input during their waking moments as they start the day on the right beat.
167. A new and exciting project we have begun work on is a CD of 41 songs to accompany the GP version of Aurora's Feed My Lambs memorization course. It's scheduled to be finished by April 2003.
168. All the WS-participating studios continue to write and record songs, but the need for good catchy songs for all ages is still a big one. You can do your part by pulling down the songs of the Spirit and submitting them for possible use. Please continue to keep us and all of the producers' health, equipment, and inspiration in your prayers, which are greatly appreciated and needed.
2002 FAF Summary
169. The Family Aid Fund has had another successful year, thanks to the Lord and our wonderful CM Family! For the year 2002, the FAF gave out 44 HERs to new Homes‚ 71 pioneer gifts, 151 Home loans, 252 tool fund gifts, 39 reimbursements to Homes for legitimate expenses‚ 161 baby bonuses, 12 pass-on gifts, and 77 other gifts to needy situations, for a total of 807 gifts.
170. To date, after 7½ years, the FAF has handed out:
1,062HERs to new Homes
1,316 Pioneer gifts
1,534 Home loans
3,625 Tool fund gifts
482 Reimbursements of legitimate
expenses incurred by Homes
1‚745 Baby bonuses
32 Pass-on gifts
242 Other gifts to needy situations
Coming to 10,038 total gifts!
171. Besides the CM Homes' 1% tithe to the FAF, for the last 7½ years WS has contributed not only 10% of its income from the CM tithes, but also 10% of all FM tithe income as well as 10% of all special offerings to WS, including all windfalls, inheritances given to WS, etc. In addition to this‚ a major source of income to the FAF comes from Home loan repayments as well as HERs turned in by departing Homes. These repayments and returns are then reused for further gifts.
172. Since the inception of the Family Aid Fund in May of 1995, WS has contributed 62% of new income to the FAF, while the CM Family has contributed 38%. Even though WS puts in the larger part of the income, it rarely benefits from the FAF, except in the case of a few medical emergencies in some WS Homes, as well as baby bonuses. Other than that‚ WS' 62% goes straight to the use of the CM Family at large, and we are happy about this. Overall, the FAF has been a huge success, offering pioneer gifts to new Homes, interest-free loans, pass-on gifts to the relatives of those who have graduated to the heavenly dimension, tool fund gifts to every new member, etc.
173. However‚ since the inception of the FAF, WS has taken on many new financial responsibilities, such as the regional chair budgets to all 12 regions in the world‚ regional board travel expenses so that all the regional board members may meet twice a year, and a multitude of gifts to the mission field. Because of these additional expenses, WS has found it necessary to sometimes set aside from 1-2% percent of its 10% for special projects that wouldn't get financed otherwise. That means that while WS still contributes a full 10%, from time to time‚ when absolutely necessary, WS may need to use 1-2% for other urgent projects. All of these projects eventually benefit the overall Family members. We hope you understand that it is sometimes necessary for WS to cut its contribution by these percentage points when needed. Overall, WS will still be contributing more than the CM Homes to the Family Aid Fund.
2002 WS Financial Summary
174. In 2002, WS' expenses exceeded its income by just $2,530. That means that everything that came in went out again. To break that down: 37% of all WS expenses went to WS publications; 36% went to Missions; 11% to Administration; 10% to the Boards; 3% to GP Productions; 2% to Audio/Visual; and 1% to Other.
WS Expenses and Major Investments
175. To give you an idea of how WS uses its money, here are our major investments:
WS publications: The 37% going to WS publications includes support and productions of the WS units, the foreign language translation units (LIMs), and the pubs printing units. This includes the cost of creation, production, and shipping of all WS pubs to you.
Missions: Giving to missions was a close second on the list, at 36% of all WS funds‚ going to over 100 mission field projects, Homes, and local production units.
Administration: Third was Administration at 11%. This covers WS administration expenses, and finances the Continental Offices that process your TRFs and stats and perform a phenomenal number of behind-the-scenes jobs.
Boards: Fourth on the list was the Boards at 10% of all WS funds. This includes gifts to the regional board chairpersons, travel for the regional board members, and savings for the upcoming international board meetings which, Lord willing, will take place in 2003.
GP productions, Audio/Visual and Other: This came in at a total of 6%, and includes the production of all the GP tools and Family CDs you receive, as well as meetings, travel, educational, and legal and media expenses.
Missionary Giving and Grants
176. As you've seen above, 36% of all WS finances went straight to missionary giving in the form of WS' contribution to the Family Aid Fund, gifts to local language studios and Lit-Pics‚ mail ministries, and much directly to Home support on the mission fields of Africa, China, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Asia, South America, and the Mideast. Here is a breakdown of what fields that 36% went to:
(chart in printed version)
Home Giving to Mission Fields
177. In 2002, Family Homes gave approximately $514,000 to other Homes and mission fields via their TRFs, which is an average of nearly $43,000 a month. That's an increase over 2001's giving of $483,404. We are sure the mission field Homes who have received these funds attribute a large amount of their success to you who have given to them. God bless you!
Special Offerings to WS
178. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to all of you who were able to give special offerings to WS over and above your tithe. Without these gifts, WS would not have been able to meet all of its expenses. We are truly grateful for your sacrifices to give. We know the Lord will abundantly repay. We'll be printing the full listing of givers in an upcoming Grapevine.
Gifts to Mama and Peter
179. (Peter:) Many, many grateful thanks to all of you who donated to Mama and me this year. We truly appreciate your sacrifice to give to us‚ and we especially appreciate your love and service for the Lord. Your gifts have helped to support us and we treasure each one of them, as we treasure each one of you, and all of our children worldwide. We commit ourselves to follow our Lover and Husband with all that is within us.
180. Thank you to: David/Ina/Phoebe/Simon; Karon Porter (2x); US3811; Simon/Phoebe/John/David/Ina from NACRO; BR025; MX930; VE211(6x) from SACRO; Emar (4x); Tim Lovebridge (4x); Jan/Maria/Paul (NI1511); Joseph/Claire (IT129); Leon Gauberti; Marie Smith (S. Africa); Sofie Giveall; Solomon Shepherd; Svieta/Dove/Maria from EURCRO; Amor/Jonathan, TW226 (China Reception Home) (2x); Dorcas/Isamu/June/Tomoko (JA068) from PACRO.
Family Administration Department
Love Charter
181. The Love Charter has been in effect for nearly eight years and has been a blessing not only to the progress of the Family as a whole, but to each individual Family member. Though we have had to amend it from time to time as the Family grows and times and directions change‚ our basic constitution and foundation has proven to be sound.
182. After a great deal of counseling, praying, and seeking the Lord about how the new board structure melds together with the Charter, and concerning some other areas of the Charter that needed updating, we have assembled a lengthy file of 36 Charter amendments that will take effect upon receipt of a soon–coming GN outlining and explaining them. Many of the amendments affect other sections or clauses of the Charter, so we hope to reprint the complete Charter with all the updates and amendments sometime in the first half of 2003. This new edition of the Charter will also include the Family Board Handbook within it.
Family Statements
183. Along with Peter and the PR international board members, we have extensively examined all 20 of the Family's official Statements this past year, reviewing, praying about, and updating them as needed. These Statements will be sent to you soon.
Administration correspondence
184. The administration team continued their regular correspondence both with the COs and offices, as well as with those from the field who write in to WS with Charter or administration-related questions. Last year the administration department processed and sent out over 4,000 messages. This includes the 24 bulletins sent out to the continental councils, regional councils, and VSs containing prophecy, counsel, direction, shepherding, board questions and answers‚ and in the case of the continental council bulletin, points asking for the COs' input and counsel on various Charter questions, Family policy questions, and questions from the field.
Board launch
185. The administration department was closely involved with the launching of the boards at the beginning of this year, working with your COs on the many details, as well as helping to set up the board communication structure.
186. Each of the members of the administration team has also taken differing roles on three of the international Family boards this year. This entails the reading of regional board reports and minutes, communications and counsel with the international and regional board members and the WS pubs teams, and, of course, praying for all those within their pillar.
International Boards
187. At the beginning of January 2002‚ we announced the launch of the worldwide board structure, which was set for March 1. The national and regional board posts were by that time filled (for the most part), and later in 2002, the international board posts were filled.
188. At present‚ the international board chairs reside within WS. The international board is made up of one representative from each continental area, along with any additional appointed representatives. The international boards are as follows (listed alphabetically):
Children and Parenting Board (CP)
Chairperson(s): Dawn (WS), Julie (WS)
Board members: Hannah (PACRO), Harmony (NACRO), Lisa (EURCRO), Margie (SACRO), Sarah Ireland (ASCRO)
Church Growth and Outreach Board (CGO)
Chairperson(s): Francis (WS), Jenna (WS)
Board members: Cassie (NACRO), Cephas (ASCRO)‚ Magda (EURCRO), Pedro (SACRO), Rachel (PACRO)
Family Education Department Board (FED)
Chairperson(s): Dawn (WS)‚ Julie (WS)
Board members: Amber (EURCRO), Carmen (SACRO), Joy D. (PACRO), Leah (ASCRO), Perry (WS), Sara (NACRO), Tina (WS)
JETT/Teen Board (JT)
Chairperson(s): Nathaniel (WS)
Board members: Ado (NACRO), Mark (ASCRO), Sam (SACRO), Stephen (EURCRO), Sweetie (PACRO)
Public Relations Board (PR)
Chairperson(s): Andrew (WS)‚ Matthew (WS)
Board members: Abi (EURCRO), Luke (WS), Marc/Claire (NACRO), Mark (SACRO)‚ Stephen (PACRO), Steven (ASCRO)
Visitation and Shepherding Board (VS)
Chairperson(s): Matthew (WS), Misty (WS)
Board members: Dawn (EURCRO), Jeff (PACRO)‚ Joan (ASCRO), Kay (WS), Miguel (SACRO), Tom (NACRO)
TeleTRF Team Update
189. Thanks so much for your continued prayers for the TeleTRF project! The "Home Final 1" version of the TeleTRF was sent to CM and FM Homes in March and April. By the October deadline we were close to the goal of having all CM Homes reporting via the TeleTRF, and many FM Homes are also using the program.
190. Our small team has now begun work on writing new programs for the offices that will streamline the processing of the TRFs. Please continue to pray for our team to implement an efficient system that will get the information that you faithfully supply in your TRF each month quickly and accurately to the many different desks that rely on your reports.
GN Stats: Lots from the Vats
191. The Heavenly vats produced an abundance of New Wine this year, and we were able to send you 61 new GNs (52 printed and 9 online), a total of 1,163 pages! And that's not counting the other special projects the GN department produced for you: the keys promises and the transcripts of Peter's Board Vision Training Videos, which total approximately another 120 pages of material. We hope you enjoyed the vintage of 2002—it was another heavenly year!
192. Although we produced a lot (nearly 300 more pages of GNs than last year), the average length of the GNs remained steady at 19 pages. (And, to make it easier to reread and review these Letters, we've begun producing DB condensations of many of them, which you'll find available on the MO site a month or so after the original Letter is sent out.)
193. "Milestones" and "variety" are two words that spring to mind in describing the GNs this year—a variety of life-changing, world-changing Letters!
194. The 4 "Heading into 2002" GNs provided a thrilling overview of our Family's progress during 2001, especially on the Activated front. And the 3 "Activate the World" GNs helped give us motivation to do just that during 2002, and on into the future.
195. "Reach the Rich" came as a vital reminder of our outreach priorities and sample, and was followed by "The Professionals," a reminder of our role and responsibilities as professional Christians.
196. The 5 "Issues" GNs covered a wide variety of topics, but were also a challenge to live our faith, as well as practical counsel on how to do it—as was the related "Gems and Jewels" GN.
197. "Pray, Obey and Prepare" and the other 3 Study Month GNs were an inspiring review of some of the basics of our faith, as well as needed preparation to "give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of your faith" in the event of persecution.
198. Another 4 GNs majored on our children and young people—their discipline‚ education, inspiration‚ and motivation. ("Are You a Delinquent Parent"; "Solutions for Shepherds, Parents and Everyone"; "Where to Now?"; and "Raising Junior Teen Disciples.") Those are only the GNs devoted totally to our young people; several other GNs had portions as well, including "Keep Fighting!—Conviction vs. Compromise #6."
199. In the "Fight for Life" series of GNs, Mama shared helpful counsel on overcoming anorexia, and Kristen shared her battles and the wonderful victory. Other online GNs had good counsel on overcoming as well: "Rising Above," "Fast-Day Follow-up," "Recognizing and Resisting Pan," "Exposing Bacchus," and "How to Be on Guard Against the Selvegion!"
200. The 2 "United Prayer Power" GNs contained terrific lessons from some of our WS workers, and some just as terrific victories in the wake of united prayer. "Fast-Day Miracles" was another Letter describing the victories won through prayer last year. And "Action Through Prayer, Part 5" contained some inspiring messages on prayer as well.
201. The keys promises (more than 725 of them on the sheets we sent you) and the GN introducing them were a major project for us this year, and we trust they'll be a blessing to you both now and in the future.
202. "The Board Vision, Part 3" offered helpful spiritual counsel on the workings of the boards, as did Peter's Board Vision Training Videos and their transcripts. The 2 "Leadership Lessons" GNs published this year also contained good counsel on working together, whether on or off a board.
203. This year's series of Feast Letters was another milestone, as the Lord reminded us yet again of the importance of the Word and challenged us to make a lasting change to get more and better feeding from the Word, quality Word time‚ if He's to continue to have first place in our lives.
204. There was a feast of other Letters as well on a variety of topics: Dad's Message in "Happy Family Birthday 2002"; 2 more "Comfort in Affliction" GNs; "Being Rewired"; "Victory Over Comparing, Part 2"; "Through It All"; "The Lord's Calling You to Write Songs"; and "Christmas Gifts 2002!"
205. And there's plenty more to feast on coming in 2003, including such topics as: More instruction on using the keys, including Ellya's next lesson; insight on how we can take hold of heavenly thought power and allow our Husband full possession; personal lessons from members of WS; more on reaching the rich; interesting and controversial questions for Issues; more spirit stories on victories through heartbreak and forsaking all; additional keys promises on new subjects; fascinating insight into spirit helpers, a collection of Word "vitamins" and much, much more!
Other Pubs and News
By your WS pubs teams
206. In addition to the GNs, you received a steady stream of other Family magazines this past year, including 4 CLTPs, 11 Eves, 11 ENDs, 30 FARs, 17 FSMs‚ 21 Grapevines, 22 Heaven's Library mags, 11 Kidlands, 12 sets of Reflections, 12 Xns‚ and the children's pubs—MLKs, Gen-Up, and Kidz Biz (listed below)! You also received a GP Christmas storybook to share with friends and family (Christmas Trilogy), a number of LNFs, fliers, children's flannelgraphs, coloring and activity pages‚ etc. Plenty of Word and informative news for the reading!
ComicTrax: Five more ComicTrax were created in 2002, making a total of 13 ComicTrax to date. This year we had our first three MO Letter ComicTrax as well, PTL! Thanks to Anthony, Zeb, and Sabine‚ who illustrated the trax this year. Here are the five titles created this year: Whose Slave Are You?, Xtreme Sports, Stop! Look! Listen!, The War of the Worlds, and The Magic of Miracles.
God bless Michael Wheelchair (Australia), who created and launched the www.comictrax.net Web site in August 2002! Check it out! Another exciting development is that the Activated USA Home spearheaded coloring several ComicTrax that weren't originally colored. You can check out the color versions on www.comictrax.net
END: This past year the END initiated "Current Comments" from Dad‚ providing a forum for more messages from Dad to get his and the Lord's perspective on news around the world.
FSM: Recent FSMs have highlighted the Activated program with the continuation of the Special Action FSM series, as well as the wonderful and amazing keys testimonies from you in the "Discovering the Power!" FSMs. A combination of FSM/Xn format was the setting for a series entitled "Where I Belong," by young people who have found their niche and calling in the Family. And many of you young people also found opportunity to let your voices be heard in positive, clear, and radical tones, answering Daniel and coming out in wholehearted favor of the Family in the two "Speak for Yourself" mags. A thrilling FSM on the Congo and a touching one on "Love and Marriage" were also in the line-up. Thanks to all of you whose contributions make our pubs so lively and interesting!
Heaven's Library mags: Last year we began putting out serial Heaven's Library stories aimed at the JETT age group, and able to be read with 9 to 11-year-olds at parents' discretion. "Wolf's Clothing" was the first such series, followed by "A Reluctant Missionary!—The Story of Jonah." And there are more to come this year!
Heaven's Library books: As you've no doubt noticed, there have been significant gaps between the last few Heaven's Library books sent to you in the last couple of years. One of the reasons for this recent slowdown of activity was explained in Grapevine #135 (June 15 issue), where we announced that some stories would be posted on the Members Only site. By the end of 2002, the first three "Web-only" stories had been posted on the MO site—Prodigy, Children of the Great Spirit‚ and Love and Exploits.
In the meantime, work on the printed Heaven's Library books picked up again. In early December Alice and the Cards was posted on the Members Only Web site. This was the first book to go to print after The Seven Keys—Warrior Lord, and you should be receiving it soon.
Other titles on their way to you this year include:
>> Overcomers II—The Eagle, The Mistletoe‚ and the Cross: An exciting sequel to the story The Tribune's Assignment‚ printed in the Heaven's Library book Overcomers.
>> Secret Paths: Germany, the early 1500s. A group of strangers find themselves drawn together by a mission to get the Words of God into the hands of the people—and in so doing, become the target of the bishop's wrath.
>> Castra—Before it Happened: A Web-only release. In a binary star system far away lives an advanced civilization who, some thousand kalas earlier‚ started picking up signals from a planet called Earth. Then the signals suddenly vanished. The Castrians are about to discover what it all meant.
Reflections: The Lord instituted a significant change in Reflections when He said they should include more and more Family-written material, so He can use them to point people to the Family with our copyright, Web address, and advertisement for the Activated magazine. The Lord said He wants people to be fed by the experiences, lessons and anecdotes our Family writers can share in these pages, and that He would provide the material. As we've solicited and prayed for it, heart–touching and feeding contributions have come in from you. We're so thankful for how He's anointed many of you Family authors, and we wish we had room to publish all that has come in since our appeal. Please keep sending your writings! They're beautiful.
The Lord's leading with Reflections matched His urging in the "Conviction vs. Compromise" series to use the Family name, thus helping people to understand the Family better, as well as know where to go for more feeding so they can continue to grow. In line with this, we have had Family-originated material in every set of Reflections since March of 2002.
Xn: Xn 01 went to the printers in early 2002, and as of November 2002, Xn 13 is on its way to your mailbox. In this wonderfully art–intensive magazine, our willing and talented artists have produced 384 pages of artwork for you this year! And the exciting thing is that, Lord willing, we will be able to give you two Xns—that's right, TWO—every month in 2003. So now you won't have to wait a whole month to find out what happens next in the Doormatrix, or to get more fresh feeding via the comic features, Blade‚ Linkup, Radicals Unlimited, and the many other columns in Xn. Thanks for your prayers for Xn, that the Lord continues to anoint the team working together on this.
Online prayer list: If you haven't been using the new online prayer list yet, check it out! Launched in June, the online prayer list is updated every two weeks on the MO site—a great tool for up–to-date prayer vigils for loved ones around the world, including sheep, relatives, and more!
New books this year: This past year you received MB2K and Seven Keys, The Warrior Lord in hand. Lord willing, you'll be receiving a number of new books in 2003. Please claim the keys for the needed finances to print and ship all the books in the pipeline!
Artists: A BIG thanks to our artists, both in-house and field contributors, who make the pubs come to life for us through their spirit-filled pictures!
Pubs for the Children
207. The big move forward the Lord did for the children's pubs this year was the new mag aimed at the nine-year-olds on up—Gen-Up! We're already receiving beautiful responses to this mag from the OCs, who are very happy to have a mag aimed at their needs. We've also heard that some of the articles in these mags are being used for feeding our Active members as well. PTL!
208. MLK production continues as well‚ with 274 pages of MLKs out in the past year. That's compared to 244 pages in 2001‚ a 12% increase.
209. Kidz Biz production continues to roll. Though the goal is to get out one issue a month, we did put Kidz Biz on pause for a while in order to put our efforts into starting Gen-Up. But this wasn't due to a lack of good material from the kids. There's more material coming in from our upcoming new generation of disciples than we can keep up with!
210. New Family Care Pubs have included pub lists of the MLKs and HTKs, and lots of coloring pages. Have you played the "100 Souls Card Game" or "The Bible Hunt Game"? If not, ask the kids in your Home to let you play the games with them. Our FC team played these games with two OCs in our Home while we were putting the finishing touches on them, and it was tons of fun and unifying too!
Pubs Print Quality Upgrade!
211. A big project in 2002 was the revamping of our NPC operations. After a great deal of research, communication, and prayer, the Lord showed us how to get the pubs mailed to you more cheaply, which has enabled us to improve the quality of the printing itself. We're sure you've noticed the difference in the quality of the printing, and that you're enjoying the clearer text‚ the much clearer graphics and photos (You can actually make out who's who now!), and overall sharper presentation. This is a tremendous victory!
212. Please keep our wonderful NPC workers in your prayers. They, along with your LIMs, Lit–Pics, and local translating and production teams, provide you with tremendous services while sacrificing to work behind the scenes for the most part so that you and the waiting world can get the Word. A big thanks also to our wonderful Continental Office teams, who faithfully serve you day in and day out! Be sure to let them know you appreciate them!
End of File