Family Specials News Magazine!
FSM 229
(FN 338)
DO
Nov., 1992
By Family Services,
Zurich, Switzerland
ARTICLES WRITTEN & CONTRIBUTED
DIRECTLY BY MISSIONARIES ON THE FIELD!
CONTENTS :
Successful Follow-Up in an
Eastern Field!  1
A DFing Ministry Aimed
at the Top!     18
Fruit of a Regular Mail Ministry!        21
Stick-to-it-itveness Helped Us
Win the Top!    22
Successful Follow-Up in an Eastern Field!
From SEA
GBY! WLY! Before we begin to relate a few of the wonderful victories, precious lessons & practical tips from our DFing ministry in this country, we'd like to give all the credit & all the glory where it is due, which is to the Lord & His faithfulness to answer prayer; to our dear parents in the Lord, Dad & Mama, who, as always, led the way by shining the bright torch of His Word on the path before us; & to others who actually pioneered these exciting ministries, whose example & counsel we lean on heavily. We can truly say that we have simply entered into other men's labours" (Jn.4:38). PTL!
In the following article, we are drawing primarily from the experiences of two Homes which have been doing quite a bit of follow-up for the past few years. One is a large Home which faces all of the challenges & obstacles of a normal field Home, carrying on outside ministries", raising support, while at the same time teaching & training their many teens, JETTs & children.
The other Home is a somewhat special situation, geared more towards winning & ministering to the top. As our Spearhead Home, they have learned many precious lessons on pioneering, perseverance, following closely, going to the Word for the Lord's counsel & leadings in their ministry, having more faith, etc.--areas in which we are all still growing, even if we aren't so involved in reaching the top!
The general principles presented here are really nothing new, as they can all be found in the Word!--And, in this case, Mama's Word-Witnessing Revolution" series. (See FSMs 62-68.) We just needed to obey & do what was already written"! (See Peter 65:21.) TYL! So although these Homes (& our field in general) may differ considerably from yours, we pray that the following points will be helpful & a blessing to you! PTL!
(Editor's note: The DFing & follow-up ministries of the Homes described here have been extremely fruitful & we pray their lessons & testimonies will be a help to you! As they are in an Eastern field where most people are Buddhist, they have followed Dad's counsel to go more slowly & patiently than in fields where the public has a generally Christian background. If you are in a predominantly Christian field, you will probably be able to proceed faster in sharing the Word with your friends.
(Each field is different, & each person is different!--So please do pray & counsel together about the application of these lessons, seeking His guidance for what is most fruitful for ministering to the kings, contacts, supporters, sheep & friends on your field! GBY! WLY & pray that the principles & lessons shared here will be an encouragement as you feed His sheep on your field!--And help you bring forth fruit that remains!)
THE BEGINNING!
When we opened one of these Homes a few years ago, we really began at square one! As a brand new Home, we all had either come from other Homes in the country or were new arrivals to our field. Although this pioneer situation presented some considerable challenges, we were all very excited about the prospects, thankful for the nice fresh start the Lord was giving us, & desperate to get off on the right foot.
There was so much to do in setting up & equipping the Home, etc., but as we prayed & counselled about where to start, we were reminded to first prepare our work in the field & afterwards build our house" (Pro.24:27).
At the beginning, we also needed to find a good balance between our outreach & follow-up, in order to help our friends & contacts grow & mature in the Lord. We've got to not only have sowers, but we've got to send reapers into the harvest fields to reap! If we don't follow-up that tremendous sowing, we'll miss the harvest. We need to go out into that harvest, personally, & confirm them in the faith, bring them into fellowship & into partial & eventually fulltime discipleship."--DM2:84.
So we agreed together to send out one team a day to only do follow-up!--But, as you can imagine, it was all by faith" at first! In fact, for some time it continued to be quite a battle to send out those pioneer follow-up teams, as our financial needs were so great! We were in the midst of getting our Home set up, & our daily financial situation was often desperate!
We are very thankful, though, that He did help us obey by faith, because that simple obedience indeed proved to be the key!--Not only to bearing fruit that remained", but also to the Lord's other blessings upon our Home. PTL!
As we began to emphasise follow-up, suddenly we started meeting lots of precious & potential new people through our daily distribution--many of whom are still with us! Over the past three years, our follow-up ministry has steadily grown until at present we have two follow-up teams nearly every day ministering to an average of about 100 people per month.
Things didn't come together all at once, of course, but as we wholeheartedly got behind this counsel to put a greater emphasis on feeding our friends, getting them plugged in to the Word, & loving & counselling them through their personal difficulties, the Lord saw to it that we were able to make slow, steady progress. And though finances were sometimes tight, He never failed to supply our needs!
It didn't always come in through outreach or follow-up (in fact we had almost no follow-up income for awhile), but He always brought it in somehow--through big donations from outside the country, new provisioning contacts, etc. On a day-to-day basis, it often looked like we weren't bringing in enough funds, but during the month overall, the Lord always did the miracle! PTL!
Now, three years later, the fruits are very apparent! Not only do we have many dear friends who are really growing in the Lord, but their combined monthly support is considerable & something that we can really bank on as we budget & plan new projects. PTL!
Seeing outreach & follow-up as different callings!
Dad has always taught that it takes time to build a good team, & that has certainly been our experience. As we began to concentrate more on follow-up, we realised that we all lacked training, & it has largely been a case of needing to learn the ropes as we went along, referring constantly to the precious counsel in the Word-Witnessing Revolution" (FSMs 62-68) & other Letters & Family pubs. As more counsel comes out, we need to remind ourselves to stay in a training mode".
Our method of follow-up has emerged gradually, as we learned by trial & error. When we first began emphasising follow-up more, everyone in our Home whose main ministry was outreach was responsible to follow-up on any of their new contacts which they considered potential. In order for each of them to have time for this, we began scheduling one day per week for follow-up appointments & another half day for their follow-up mail ministries. Everyone kept their own records & reported the progress of their contacts to our Home's follow-up deacon.
Although this method bore some fruit, there were also a few disadvantages which soon became evident. (Again, please bear in mind that our Home & field are possibly quite different from yours. The following is how the Lord has led us in our situation, but He may have something very different for you.)
Perhaps most importantly, we soon realised that some of us are more the soul-winner, evangelist type with a special anointing for meeting new people & winning them to the Lord, while others are more like pastors & are better at the slow, patient job of ministering to our friends on a long-term basis. As well, we also, of course, have different burdens which are often in line with our strengths.
So after awhile, we designated two people to major on follow-up of all our contacts. When the number of people we were ministering to became too much for our original team, they each became team leaders & started training others.
Discerning the difference between sheep
Once we drew this line of distinction between our follow-up & outreach teams, we found that this was also the solution to several other weaknesses in our follow-up program which had developed when everyone had been trying to do both.
One difficulty we had encountered in getting our follow-up program rolling was that we didn't all have the necessary discernment to distinguish between the real potentials & those who were sweet but not really searching or concerned enough about helping our Work to be worthy of our very limited time. As a result, we soon became so encumbered with numbers, that we weren't able to concentrate on the ones who really had it. Because each of us only saw our part of the total picture, it was very difficult to make judgements as far as who was worth continuing on with & who wasn't.
But once our little follow-up team became familiar with the broad spectrum of our sheep, friends, & potential kings, we found that they were better able to judge the hunger & progress of each one, having this broader frame of reference. Before long, the Lord thinned out the ranks & we were left with a much more manageable circle of genuine friends.
Advantages of separate outreach & follow-up teams
Having the work divided like this made the organisational side easier for everyone. Instead of each person needing to be involved in the planning, record-keeping, & counselling of two fairly distinct ministries, outreach & follow-up, they are now able to concentrate & better keep on top of one. And instead of trying to thoroughly cover both outreach & follow-up in one large weekly meeting, we are now able to do most of our planning in smaller councils which operate more efficiently.
Making this transition was a little sensitive at first, because some of us were personally involved with certain sheep, so we all learned good lessons on teamworking, unity & always putting the welfare of the sheep first! Many of the principles that Mama shared in the Word-Witnessing Revolution" FSM series about drawing our friends to the Lord & the greater Family came to life for us in this situation & it wasn't long before we all appreciated the wisdom of this counsel, as our friends really started to grow & blossom! TYJ!
In some cases, the people who originally met & won certain contacts have continued to be directly involved, but generally we found that after a good introductory visit or two, almost everyone can be ministered to by the follow-up team.
At least one day a week we combine forces, with some of our outreach people going on follow-up, & some of our follow-up people going on outreach, so everyone gets a chance to do both. This is an excellent time for paying initial follow-up visits to new contacts & also helps keep us united.
OUR APPROACH!
The executive counselling" approach
The first step in building a fruitful follow-up ministry is, of course, making contact with the right people! (See Win Labour Leaders!", Maria #64, FSM 63.) So if we were asked, What do you feel is the first quality needed in pioneering such a ministry?" we'd answer Holy Spirit boldness & crazy faith!" Although we've met many of our present sheep while distributing our tools, we've also looked for other means to meet top people & have sometimes used the flimsiest excuses to do so! It's amazing how sincerity, conviction & our happy smiling faces--together with the Lord's help & prayer--can open almost any door!
In providing new contacts in the business community with an incentive for seeing &/or hearing from us regularly, we find that the executive counselling" approach is often quite effective. Although we do all we can to get them interested in us & our Work, the most important thing is to get them interested in the Word, & to do so we need to get their attention & whet their appetite.
Thank the Lord for the seemingly inexhaustible resources of our Family pubs which deal with topics of interest to businessmen, such as: Time management, how to cope with stress, environmental development, relations with people, leadership, & other related subjects.        (Editor's note: On non-pagan fields, if you need something to precede the DFs in feeding your friends, it may be possible to cover topics that contain more Word, such as those on Tests & Trials, Prayer, Love One Another, Relations with People, etc., using anecdotes from Good Thots or DFO MOP quotes.)
Whatever their interests or problems, we have the answers & counsel they seek!--And of course, the bottom line, the goal we are striving for, is always to draw them to Jesus!
Within the first week of meeting a new contact, we try to send a follow-up letter. This letter usually includes a little so-happy-to-have-met-you" paragraph, a thank-you for their donation or help extended (if any), a brief but sincere appreciation for something they said or did, & a short re-cap of who we are & why we came to visit them. We usually allow about a week for them to receive this letter before phoning them or dropping by their office (or home if met DTD). They're usually very touched by this thank you" & this makes it easier to get a second appointment.
Feeding our friends spiritually
This, of course, is the most challenging & thrilling part of our ministry--learning how to feed these people & seeing them grow & change through it.
In God's Word, you can find the answer to every question, every problem you will ever have in life!" (DM1:134). As we minister the Word directly to their personal needs, that simple Truth is a wonderful new marvel to our friends! Of course, the key is being full of our subject & very familiar with the Word at our disposal: DFs, Treasures", GP tracts, GP DMs, Good Thots", Posters, DFO MOP, GP audio tapes, & other Family Pubs. (See 2Tim.2:15 & 1Pet.3:15.)
When we first began this ministry, before the Letters, Spiritual Babies" & Witnessing to Pagans" were published, we took a rather direct religious approach in witnessing to them--getting them saved within the first few visits & trying to get them plugged right into the DFs. Some were so open that they received the Word readily, but with most of our local friends, who have no Christian background, we found that even the introductory DFs were meaty".
As we were praying about this situation, an outreach team met Dr. A. & the Lord inspired us to xerox two pages of selected quotes & anecdotes on the topic Change the World" for him. Not only was he very interested in the subject matter, but he also liked the format (A4 sheets with large type) in which it was presented. We tried this sheet of quotes & anecdotes with other contacts & were greatly encouraged by their response!
We began compiling quotes & anecdotes on a variety of subjects which we felt would be of interest to them in their line of work, drawing from the DFs, MOP, Good Thots" & other Family pubs. We now have about 150 of these bite-sized" quote sheets prepared for follow-up use (in both English & the local language), so we have something readily available for nearly any situation or need. TTL!
Topics such as Character", Greatness" & Leadership" very much appeal to the sense of integrity & uprightness of contacts in government or civic positions, while those in the business sector are generally more interested in topics such as Relations with People" & Keys to Success". Some of our most basic quote sheets are now the basis for our executive counselling sessions" (which are the initial follow-up visits).
Using these very milky classes or quote sheets in the beginning gives us more time to win their trust as they gradually get to know us better. Depending on the situation, after our first few visits, we are usually able to lead them in prayer to receive the Lord & the Holy Spirit, following Dad's guidelines in the Letter, How to Witness to Pagans!" In time, we are able to build up to meatier subjects & include more & more quotes, anecdotes, or classes about the Lord & our spiritual life with Him. Most of our contacts have now graduated to reading straight from the DFs & the Bible. For them to have come so far in such a short amount of time may perhaps be commonplace on other fields but here it is actually quite remarkable! The most important steps in their spiritual growth, of course, are their receiving the Lord & getting filled with the Holy Spirit.
(Editor's note: As you will note, these quote sheets were used in a Buddhist field, where many people are very unfamiliar with Christian concepts & ideas. If you are on a field with a predominantly Christian culture or heritage, you would most likely not need to take the approach of using material such as very milky quote sheets for quite a while to break them in, but could start your friends on the DFs quite soon, if not right away, as soon as they are interested in the Word & will take the time for it.
(By the same token, it would not be necessary in most countries of the World to use the term executive counselling" to explain your Work. In fact, missionaries are highly respected & admired in most places, & many Family members have found it very helpful, clear & acceptable when they introduce themselves as such right from the start, rather than waiting until they have known the person for a while. When you introduce yourself as a missionary, they know right away you are someone they can come to if they need help, if they want to know about the Lord, or are looking for answers in their life. So this term opens doors for witnessing & often helps people to be more cooperative & understanding about your situation, your lifestyle, & the goal of your Work. PTL!
         (If you would like to use the counselling approach as an opener with people in the business world, you could perhaps say that you are a missionary who does executive counselling. But unless you are in one of the rare countries where missionary work is actually illegal or very frowned upon, we'd like to encourage you to continue introducing yourselves as missionaries.)
More points on sharing the Word
Sometimes we need to change plans at the last minute as far as what quote sheet or Word we had prepared. Perhaps our appointment turns out longer or shorter than we were anticipating or maybe our contact unexpectedly invites one of his friends to sit in on our visit. For this reason, each teamleader has a folder of master copies of most of our quote sheets which they take with them to each appointment.
Although we generally jump right into sharing the Word after a few pleasantries, it's important to allow time for the person we are visiting to share their hearts. Sometimes we've needed to ask questions to let them know we have a listening ear for any questions, problems or difficulties they might be having. This also gives us keys as to any specific Word topics they might need next. We sometimes found that after we'd given a contact something very meaty, it was helpful to lighten up a bit in the next few visits.
Judging who to" & priorities!
In our city, traffic is so bad that it greatly limits how many appointments we are able to schedule each day. To minimise travel time, we try to arrange our appointments so that they are located as close to each other as possible, but we are still only able to average three or four visits in a nine-hour follow-up day.
Being so limited by time & personnel, we need to be choosy in who we follow-up on. In deciding this, we go by three main criteria: The spiritual is, of course, most important. We try to put first those who are the hungriest, the most desperate, & the most in need of what we have to give. These people are included in our mail ministry & DF ministries.
Secondly, we also minister to others who aren't super hungry, but are more like kings who appreciate what we're doing & have committed themselves to supporting our Work either monthly or occasionally &/or could be potential protectors" in times of future persecution.
And thirdly, of course, the Lord is constantly placing new potential friends & contacts in the path of our outreach teams. In order to give each of these new contacts their chance, we try to make it a priority to go back to them right away, before they have time to cool off. (For more on this very important aspect, please refer to the Word-Witnessing Revolution" FSMs!)
PROVISIONING CONTACTS!
Follow-up of provisioning contacts!
As Mama has said, provisioning contacts are proving their worthiness through their giving, so it's very important for us to invest time in them! We've found we actually start off on an even better footing with new provisioning contacts than with people we meet via our Videos & Tapes, in some respects, because with provisioning contacts, we have to sell them on ourselves & our Work immediately.
In the initial contact, our phone provisioner gives them a concise, straightforward summation of our Work & our objectives, as well as our need & how they can be a part. So by the time they give, they've usually had deeper contact with us than those whom we simply get sold on our tools.--Great potential for follow-up! PTL!
In our situation, however, follow-up of our provisioning contacts is even more awkward than that of our contacts gained through outreach & needs to be handled somewhat differently for several reasons: First of all, our contacts from outreach are nearly all located relatively close together in the parts of the city designated for our Home's outreach, whereas our provisioning contacts are spread out all over the city, many in outlying industrial areas, which makes travel time between appointments even greater. Consequently, most of our personal visits need to be combined with provisioning pick-ups of theirs or others' donations.
Because our follow-up personnel are not usually involved in pick-ups, it's especially important that we make appointments with the people whom we want to minister to, otherwise we lose precious follow-up time if they are not in. On the other hand, sometimes those doing pick-ups just drop in to say hello to contacts in the vicinity of their business. Even though this may not actually be the best situation or team to share the Word or quote sheets or to minister at length, our contacts seem to appreciate our thoughtfulness & this has also borne good fruit.
Using mail & phone for provisioning contacts!
Because we have so many provisioning contacts--many more than we could possibly visit for classes on a regular basis--we place a special emphasis on our mail follow-up of these dear folks. As much as possible, the children make personalised, hand-drawn thank-you's for each major donation (as well as for some of our follow-up contacts when they help with special designated gifts), & this seems to touch their hearts more than almost anything else that we could send them or do for them.
In addition, they all get regular feedings via the mail. Depending on how close they are & how receptive they are, we send them either our mail ministry letters at least once each month, or DFs.
Another key to winning & feeding our provisioning contacts has been phone follow-up. The national sister who initiates most of our provisioning calls also has a special gift for pouring out to people over the phone. She is very amiable, reads things with them & often gets them saved right on the phone!--And they love it! We have some contacts that we've never been able to meet in person, but they're getting ministered to regularly & they continue to give (some on a monthly basis), sponsor Videos, & even send extra donations to our bank account!
Thrilling fruit of more personal attention to a provisioning contact!
We first met Mrs. S. when we opened the School in our city, & she gave a large donation of aluminum cabinets for the kitchen. Aluminum ware is, of course, not something that we need on a regular basis, so it would have been quite easy just to file her name away until perhaps some future need arose. She seemed especially sheepy, though, & the Lord gave our national provisioner a special burden for her.
She followed up on Mrs. S. by phone & eventually got her to come for a visit. Mrs. S. brought her children with her & they have been instrumental in drawing their mother closer to the Family, because they're always wanting to come back to see us! As Mrs. S. is so very busy, most of our follow-up of her is still done over the phone, but she's now made three visits to our Home & each was a tremendous success, drawing her closer to us & her children closer to our children.
She now says that she considers herself a part of our Family, & her teenage son, who also loves the Word, is showing great potential as a Catacomber! As we don't have a regular need for items she handles in her business, we introduced her to our sponsorship program & she initially helped with several large quantities of powdered milk. More recently, she sponsored 100 Videos & 200 Tapes to provincial schools--a donation of nearly $4,000! For Christmas, she gave funds for a set of playground equipment large enough for all our children! Lastly, she now contributes about $1,000 monthly. GBH!
PRAYER & PLANNING!
Organising visits with our master list & short list"
We try to visit all of our follow-up contacts at least once a month. Our master listing of follow-up contacts is organised by location, as the section of town is a major consideration in scheduling our appointments. We can also see at a glance which category each falls into: new potential, Catacomber or live-out, DFer or mail ministry sheep, monthly supporter, occasional supporter, etc. We also use this list to make note of how many times we have seen them, what we were able to feed them, & also the last time they helped financially.
We refer to this list constantly in our weekly & daily planning. Every couple of months we review the entire list carefully, dropping unresponsive contacts after another round of prayer & one last attempt to get them stirred up. Contacts dropped from our current follow-up list go on to our inactive" list.
We also keep a short list" of people who we are trying to put special emphasis on, & these we try to see two, three or even four times a month, & we also see our closest kings & live-out disciples four times a month. Organising & scheduling all of this is, of course, a bit of a project & requires lots of prayer & teamwork!
Weekly follow-up meeting
No matter how busy we are, we have found that it's absolutely essential to always make time for our weekly follow-up pow-wow & planning meeting, which usually takes three to four hours. Other meetings are sometimes postponed or cancelled for various reasons but, for those involved, we try to consider our follow-up prayer & pow-wows sacred"!
This is our chance to look to His Word together, share our victories, pow-wow mistakes & lessons, & discuss goals for the coming week, etc. Much of this meeting is actually devoted to praying specifically for needed appointments & witnessing breakthroughs with each of our friends.
Desperate prayer that is full of faith is the most powerful weapon that we have, & can radically alter any situation or heart!"--MOP 97:83. That quote has proven so true, as nearly all of the biggest changes in the lives of our sheep & contacts are answers to the prayers prayed in these meetings!
After opening with a few songs, we spend at least one hour in prayer committing the week ahead & any specific requests to the Lord. We often name each individual contact in prayer. We also include our more personal requests, like for wisdom & discernment & renewed love for the lost, prayers against the worldliness we're constantly exposed to, against familiarity, etc.
We have tried to invest as much in our united prayer time as we possibly can, assigning different ones to be responsible to select written prayers &/or other inspiring types of prayers to be used in our prayer meeting each week. One-word prayers, conversational prayers, using verses, etc., make each weekly prayer time very special & meaningful, unifying & inspiring! PTL! Seeing the Lord's miraculous answers to these prayers makes us really look forward to these prayer sessions & this is almost always the highlight of our meeting.
Discussion of appointments
We make a list of other people we want to see & divide this up between our follow-up team members. They are then responsible to call for appointments & get together the necessary reading materials, etc. We go over our general plan with our appointment book, organising & synchronising teams & appointments already made, so we don't have overlaps.
During the pow-wow portion of our meeting, we've found it fruitful to sometimes discuss our appointments together. In the multitude of counsellors purposes are established."--Pro.15:22. Not only do our visits go better, but this is good training experience for those newly involved & we sometimes come up with new & better ideas on feeding all our friends.
For example, at one meeting last December, the Lord showed us to read the Christmas Story from the Bible with one contact & this led to our reading it with many others. Most of them really enjoyed it & this provided an excellent opportunity to get them interested in the Bible, which most people on our field have never been exposed to.
We also try to have a special monthly meeting to set goals for the month ahead, as well as brief additional meetings during the week if situations arise which require extra prayer or counsel.
Prayer chains & vigils
We especially try to take the time for special prayer when obtaining important appointments & during important appointments. We also have prayer chains & vigils for special events or situations when we really need the Lord's help & intervention. We sincerely believe many important breakthroughs were brought about because we desperately committed them to the Lord in prayer!
Once, when we were having difficulty reaching one of our very top contacts, in desperation we got together & cried out to the Lord & asked Him to do something supernatural.--And about two minutes after we prayed, he called! It was very unusual for him to phone us, so we knew it was a direct answer to our prayers, which encouraged us to continue to labour for our friends in prayer!
Scheduling appointments & desperate prayer!
Previously, we tried designating one day each week for appointment-making, but for us this didn't work well because of our contacts' very busy & constantly changing schedules. Instead, each person responsible for making appointments now takes every opportunity to phone, putting a special emphasis on this during the first day of each week in order for our overall schedule to take shape as early as possible.
This often means making calls while out on follow-up, seizing the odd moment between other appointments, etc. In order to have this very necessary time for phoning, we must be careful not to schedule our appointments too close together. Especially when we have a number of people we need to contact, we try to get to the area of our next appointment early enough that we can stop for 20 minutes to half an hour to make calls for other appointments.
Regardless of when we schedule time to phone for appointments, desperate prayer is the key as this is very often a serious spiritual battle!
In scheduling our appointments, location is, again, a major factor. As soon as we have times confirmed to see our most important contacts, we try to schedule other appointments in those areas accordingly.
Using the phone to follow-up!
Some days we're only able to make a couple of appointments in a certain area, also appointments occasionally fall through. When either of these happen, we can use extra time between appointments to try to make appointments or else phone friends to give them a little feeding over the phone. This is actually an excellent way to fit in extra phone follow-up, which can be quite effective & sometimes accomplish as much as a visit, yet requires far less of our time! So many friends benefit from an extra call, especially those we are trying to get close to or put an emphasis on, including new folks!
To best take advantage of chances for additional phone follow-up, it's important to be prepared by always carrying a good variety of follow-up material, not just what is planned for the day's scheduled appointments.
When left with time between appointments, we also occasionally just drop in on other contacts in the area if we're reasonably sure they'll be there, but again, it's important to be prayed up about what they need next & have appropriate follow-up material with us.
Frequent calls to our friends keep us in constant touch with their secretaries & aides. We've found it very important to have good rapport with these staff members as our handling of them can have a direct bearing on whether they assist or block our efforts to get appointments with their bosses.
We've also learned not to necessarily be limited by the schedules or timetables presented to us & we've had beautiful appointments with friends whom we were told were not in the office", but who we found to be there when we popped by anyway! It's always important, however, to be sensitive to the situation & find the proper balance between having conviction that they need to spend time reading the Word with us & being considerate of their schedules, so that they will continue to grant us appointments.
At one point, when one of our outreach team leaders was PG & days in town became too long & strenuous for her, she became our appointments secretary". For several months her main ministry was phone follow-up & appointment-making, which was very fruitful.
TIPS FOR THE FOLLOW-UP TEAM!
Word breaks!
Because the follow-up teams' schedule is quite demanding, usually leaving the Home rather early & returning shortly before dinner, followed by a busy evening of kids, Home meetings & chores, it's important that we don't schedule our appointments so close together or get so caught up in phone follow-up while out, that we don't take time to stop & get fed ourselves. Walkmans & Word Tapes can transform draining travel time into feeding Temple Time! Redeeming the time on W&R (Word & Rest) days is also a key! We cannot nourish others unless we ourselves are refreshed & nourished. We cannot feed from empty shells, from an empty cupboard, an empty heart, an over-burdened heart, a strained body that has not even enough for itself, much less for others" (ML#606, DB1, pg.70).
Preparing for a day of follow-up!
Whether it's done the night before or early in the morning, we found that time must be allotted to counsel together about what we plan to feed each contact & get our bags ready with follow-up material & everything else we'll need for the day's appointments. It helps for each person to have their own set of originals" of the GP Tracts, DFs, quote sheets, etc.,which they can carry in their briefcase & photocopy while out, as needed.
While preparation is one of the most important factors in making our follow-up appointments really count, it poses what is probably the greatest challenge to our scheduling! As it has been hard to set aside much time specifically for that, it seems that simply thinking & praying & counselling about our contacts & their needs constantly or whenever we get a chance seems to be the best solution for finding time for preparation!
So as soon as we finish one appointment with a contact or friend, we begin praying & preparing for our next meeting with him or her. As we critique" each visit together (reviewing it & examining how things went), we jot down ideas for the next meeting, phone call or class with that person, based on topics or questions that arose during the visit that we just had with them. Not only does this help us to answer their questions from the Word, but our friends are impressed with our sincerity & concern, seeing us take the time to pray & do more research on the topics which apply to their lives, & follow through with further Word studies.
Once we have an idea of what they might need next & pray about it, the Lord is always faithful to lead us to just the right Word. TYL! He really blesses our taking the time to pray about what each person needs & preparing material to feed them!
Reporting & record-keeping!
Each follow-up team fills out a simple report form, listing the highlights of each appointment, making note of what quote sheets, Word, or classes were shared, points to cover during our next visits with these people or to include in our next correspondence, whether or not they donated, etc. These reports not only help us keep our records up to date on all of our contacts, but from them we are able to compile a monthly report which covers our follow-up stats & finances, summarises accomplishments or trends & draws attention to weak or problem situations, etc. This is our chance to step back & see the overall picture, & share it with our overseers & the rest of the Home.
FOLLOW-UP MAIL MINISTRY!
Who to keep on our mailing list!
As mentioned earlier, when we first began our follow-up push, everyone on outreach was scheduled a half day each week to follow-up on their contacts by mail, sending thank-you letters, MOLs, DFs, & mail ministry letters according to the situation. Everyone was excited about the new people they were meeting, but we hadn't had enough visits yet to better determine the potential of each one, & our mail ministry soon contained hundreds of people--far more than we could realistically minister to or visit.
Consequently, we saw the need to trim down our list considerably & aim for quality, not quantity. For the most part, we only keep on our mailing list those who respond well to our follow-up visits & continue to show their interest by making themselves available for further appointments. There are exceptions to this, however, especially in the case of top people who are genuinely too busy to see us often, yet remain friendly & respond positively to the Word we send them by mail & occasional, brief phone follow-up.
Once we trimmed down, we found that a key to keeping our mailing list manageable is making a priority of following-up on the new potentials met by our outreach teams.
Using our mail ministry
We began our mail ministry with a set of stock letters that had been used in Japan. In the course of ministering to our friends over the last few years, we have added to these letters, so that we now have a selection on a wide variety of topics. To each letter we add a personalised beginning & closing, so that the person who receives it feels that personal touch & knows we love & pray for & are concerned about him or her personally.
These stock letters came as a tremendous answer to our prayers, as like Japan, ours is a non-Christian field where follow-up is generally a much slower, & more painstaking process than in Christian cultures. Nearly everyone we meet is completely ignorant of the Gospel & steeped in their own religion, but they respond well to these personalised letters & the very simple spiritual truths which are gradually introduced in them.
Instead of everyone trying to handle all the mail for their own contacts, we now have two people designated to do all the mail ministry letters, as well as the weekly DF & Treasure Hunt mailings. A national handles our local language mail & a teen, after thorough training & under the close oversight of our follow-up deacon, takes care of the English. (The mail ministry letters are on disk for use with a computer, so they can be slightly changed to fit each situation. Each letter is printed out separately with the person's name & the changes for that letter to make it personal.)
Those who minister to the contacts face to face just fill out a simple form, which says which stock letter to send to each sheep & how it should be adapted & personalised, as well as whether it should be in English or the local language. Instructions usually include a personal opening & closing paragraph, written by those who minister to each contact. Those who select the letters going to each contact are also responsible to update the flow chart" that we keep on each of our friends, detailing what they have received & when.
Because of the volume of letters that we send out & the time needed to work on them, it's often a temptation not to spend so much time on each letter, & not go to the trouble of changing the letter for each person, making references to that person's life or needs, or adding personal words. However a friend once commented, I've wondered if these letters are just printed form letters, but since they contain some personal words to me, I realise that you are writing to me individually." This really impressed upon us the importance of not losing the personal touch, which does change them from just being a mechanical form letter to being our personal expression of love & concern for them. We must also make sure that if we have more than one contact in a certain office or we're ministering to several people whom we know are close friends, that different letters are sent to each one. This means that when selecting their letters, we need to not only check that the current letters differ, but also compare their flow charts to see what each has received previously.
After the personalised paragraphs or letters are typed, someone else checks them for typos or other mistakes. The letters then go back to the follow-up teams to sign. We usually sign a few names of those whom the contact knows. Your Friends from So-&-so" may or may not be included. We also double check that the presentation of these letters, (including addressing the envelopes) is very neat, using good quality stationery, etc.
(Editor's note: As you can see, ministering to lots of people with personalised letters" can be quite a time-consuming & detailed process. If you are ministering to top people whom you are unable to see often, but who are very sheepy & interested, or if you are also in a field where people cannot receive the DFs immediately, but need some intermediate feeding, this method may be helpful for you. But otherwise, on mainly Christian fields, many people can be fed & made to feel loved & cared for through your regular DF mailings, with personalised notes &/or newsletters.
(You can also tailor your follow-up to the specific personal individual needs of your mail ministry sheep by sending them articles, quotes or anecdotes which directly apply to whatever they are going through, using the DFO MOP, Good Thots, DM sections, GP Tracts, in addition to the DF or Treasures articles or other DFO materials.
(For example, if someone is having a problem with worry, or with their children, or with sickness; if they need to be encouraged to read the Word, pray more, or have more faith; if they would benefit from inspirational themes, or messages of encouragement--whatever the particular need of that person at the time, you can find something on that topic to send to them.--And more follow-up material is on the way to you very soon! Whatever a person is going through, the Word has what will help them & be a blessing to them at that time. As you tune in to their needs, & ask the Lord to show you what Word to share with them, they will begin to grow in the Lord as they see how He has the answers, strength & help that they need. PTL!)
How much to send in the mail
Because we are ministering to so many contacts at present, we can realistically only send one or two mail ministry letters per month to each, with very few exceptions. Of course, we also send thank-you cards or notes to all our monthly supporters & occasional supporters. Sometimes these are incorporated into their personalised mail ministry letters & other times we send these separately. In addition, we send each contact a card on their birthday, & at Christmas we send a special Christmas letter, as well as a separate Christmas card mailing.
Since time is so valuable to most successful business people, they usually keep extremely busy schedules. We have found that in the beginning stages of getting to know someone & ministering to them, they often just lightly skim through the mail ministry letters. In order to help make it easy for them to be good, we've learned to keep our first correspondence down to a simple little card or letter with only a few words of greeting & perhaps one or two quotes or anecdotes to spark their interest.
In time, most of our friends have progressed to the point where they really value the material we have to share & we're able to give them more substantial feedings through the mail.
HOME SAMPLE & STEWARDSHIP!
Home improvements!
When each of these two Homes (our large Home & our Spearhead Home) moved into their present housing, both properties needed a lot of work to bring them up to the Family standard. Over the past two or three years, we've had various home improvement projects going almost non-stop. These have included painting the interior of the Home, re-modelling one kitchen & several other rooms, re-decorating (particularly the children's rooms, classrooms & communal areas), sanding & revarnishing some of the wooden floors, installing better lighting & fans, up-grading furniture & appliances, investing work in the gardens, etc.
In addition, both Homes soon discovered that they needed to learn to budget a healthy amount each month in order to keep the property well-maintained & make the on-going improvements that good sample Family Homes require.
Although there is often a lot to be done to improve the Home & property, the Lord has never failed to provide both time & funds to keep moving forward, & for the past few years both Homes have been able to make major improvements almost every month. Hallelujah! PTL! This has become an exciting, challenging & fulfilling part of each Home & as the standard gradually climbs upward, it provides a big morale boost for everyone. Though this has involved a bit more work for us all, we have also had the added blessing of benefitting from this practical training, & everyone enjoys & benefits from the improved Home standard. TYJ!
Inspiring others to help or give
Not only has this been necessary for our own sakes, but it has also played an important part in winning our friends, contacts, & landlords. As Dad has taught, people want to go with a winner". They want to associate themselves with projects that are successful & they like to give where it counts & where they can see the results. Man looketh on the outward appearance" & our continual efforts to upgrade our physical standard do not go unnoticed! (1Sam.16:7).
Nothing encourages your donors to give, more than to see how meticulous you are!--To see what excellent care you take of things! Kings love efficiency, they love success, & they don't like waste. They like you to be good stewards of the kingdom."--MOP 69:15,14.
Our sponsors are especially observant of how we care for the specific items they donate, but we have also needed to remind ourselves that, as Dad has said, Kings are conscious of every little thing. They notice how you're dressed, the papers lying in the yard, & the junkers behind the garage! Nothing escapes the king!"--MOP 69:39,89.
As virtually all of the materials for our many handyman & redecorating projects have been either provisioned or sponsored by our follow-up contacts, each improvement not only serves as proof of the Lord's ability to supply & His blessing upon the Family, but also clearly attests to the fact that our cause & our Work are very highly regarded by the companies & individuals who donate to us. Often our friends are inspired to help with new needs that arise or provoked to Godly jealousy" when they see what others have helped with. They don't want to miss their opportunity to give & be blessed!--And of course when they do give, the Lord always blesses them spiritually & materially & helps them to feel more a part of our Work & our Family! PTL!
Both Homes are now also reaping benefits even financially which more than covered their investment in the property. One Home's landlady was so impressed with our care of her property, that she recently extended our contract for three more years at the same rent we began paying two years ago. With rents in this city skyrocketing, we are now paying only one-fourth of what she could rent this house for! PTL! What a victory!
At the other Home, good stewardship of the property has staved off rent increases; made our landlady very open to our requests that she invest more in certain improvements; & has, in fact, played a major part in keeping the door open for us to be able to continue to use this property!
Stewardship Pow-wows
As the Lord has also provided good sample equipment for both Homes, we've needed pow-wows on stewardship from time to time. We've had to lay down strict guidelines, such as not moving fans from their designated areas, limiting the personnel allowed to handle the video & tape recorders, etc. Otherwise, due to the number of people we have in our Home, our machines could break down rather quickly & would therefore not be a good sample to visiting friends.
The spiritual is the most important!
At the same time, we must be careful not to go overboard, not to put too much emphasis on the physical or to lean on these physical measures to win their hearts. We will never--nor would we even wish to--match up to the luxurious living standard of many of our wealthy friends & kings. As Mama has shared, simplicity is an important part of our sample!
In ministering to our friends, we're trying to draw them more into the spiritual realm, so we must be careful not to stress the physical so much that it actually becomes a distraction. And of course, when with our friends, we need to be especially faithful to take every opportunity to give the Lord all the glory & praise for each improvement & His supply of our every material need!
PREPARING FOR VISITORS!
Seeing ourselves through the eyes of others!
The article Receiving Guests at Our Home" by Marianne (see FSM 140) helped us tremendously in learning to better prepare for ministering to visitors. As we are quite a distance from the city, it takes time for people to come all the way to see us, so it is a very big event for both them & us. This may be the only time they come for a visit throughout our friendship with them, so the sample they receive & the impression we make are very, very important.
At one of our very first dinner appointments, we brought our visitor into our main dining room & he was simply overwhelmed by the sea of faces & what to him could probably only be described as happy commotion". It certainly caused us to re-examine our entire sample & presentation from their viewpoint! We are quite accustomed to our lifestyle, & we easily forget just how different our way of life is from that of the people to whom we minister.
How to receive guests became the topic of extensive Pow-wows, & before our next dinner guest we made some changes! We now have a separate cozy little lounge & dining area where a few of us are able to minister to our visitors, away from the busy hubbub of the Home. Everyone makes a special effort to keep the noise & traffic levels low while we have a visitor over.
A thorough clean-up!
For each visit, we do a very thorough all-hands-on-deck" clean-up & de-cluttering of the entire property, inside & out. The strollers are put away, our six highchairs are decentralised from the dining room, someone checks that there aren't any potties in the yard or boxes from the last PPC delivery under the stairway, etc, etc! Everything must be spic & span & very presentable.
Special attention is given to the lounge & dining areas where we will be spending most of our time, as well as our guests only" bathroom, the children's rooms, entrance, hallways, & any other areas our visitors might possibly see. (When we don't have visitors, our guests only" bathroom is, of course, used by the Family, but we have a matching set of furnishings which are brought out for guests. Once set up for a visit, this bathroom becomes off limits" to the Family.)
The clean-up is followed by a thorough inspection, at which time we ask the Lord to help us see each area of the Home through the eyes of our guest so that we can correct any questionable details.
Planning a visit
The basic program of each visit is discussed & decided upon in counsel, including what Word or spiritual feeding we hope to be able to incorporate into the visit. We also counsel about whether the evening should be more of a light fellowship-type evening or if we could make it more spiritual & feeding in nature. We also establish who should help take care of the visitor, & what the role of each person directly involved will be.
If the visitor is going to stay for lunch or dinner, we organise the menu & any special shopping that may be needed. One person in our Home has a flair for presenting things nicely & he takes charge of the dining area & serving, using the matching dinner set, nice glasses, etc. which we have reserved for use with visitors. As the food of this country is quite different from everyday Family fare, we make an effort to serve mostly local dishes or snacks, prepared by one of our nationals who has the know-how.
Prayer & briefing just before visitor's arrival
We allow about 45 minutes to an hour before the guests are scheduled to arrive for a good prayer & pow-wow with those who will be present & taking care of the visitor. Here we pray specifically for every aspect of the visit, share the plan, & go over basic conversational pointers, review our manners, prepare ourselves to answer foreseeable questions & brief everyone about questions they should or shouldn't ask. We don't want to make our answers too pre-planned or rehearsed, but at the same time, we prayerfully discuss what we expect to come up in the conversation.
We try not to all ask the same standard questions like, What's your sun sign?" or How many children do you have?" It's important for all of us, including the teens & children who will be there, to know our guest's name & how to properly address him. Some of us who regularly take part in these visits have to stay on guard against familiarity & we all need to constantly ask the Lord for a real sincere love & concern for each visitor. We commit the coming visit to the Lord, praying that He will shine through, & that we will be a good sample & inspiration to our guest, shining with His Love & Spirit! This little pre-visit pow-wow is also a good time to doublecheck everyone's attire, making sure we are all suitably dressed.
(Editor's note: While our vicious enemies have accused us of putting on a show" for visitors, it's normal procedure for anyone in the System to clean up when they expect guests, put on their best clothes, bring out the guest dishes & generally put their best foot forward. It's also perfectly normal when you are hosting a special occasion to discuss the events planned, how to act towards the guests, what to say, etc., especially when dignitaries are invited. Entire books are written about how to entertain, so it's completely understandable that we would put prayer, discussion & planning into the occasion, to make our friends' visit a success & blessing for all.)
THE VISIT!
Basic procedure
Within the first few minutes of our guest's arrival, we serve a simple fruit juice drink & snacks which have already been set out. After about 10 to 15 minutes of conversation, we often introduce a very special part of our Family" & a few of the children put on a little performance. After their singing, the children usually spend a few minutes talking to the visitor. It's been a real testimony to them that not only can our national children speak intelligently in their own language to visitors, but our foreign children can also carry on a basic conversation in the local language.
Depending on the visitor, we have different activities planned over dinner (or over the snacks, if they are not having a full meal with us), ranging from a simple getting-to-know-you conversation, to reading something meaningful together. Upon occasion we offer a little appreciation speech or sincerely offer words of thanks & encouragement during the meal. Sometimes this is also an ideal time to hear someone's personal testimony, in terms which we feel our guest will best be able to relate to.
Using music
After the meal, we move over to the lounge area & listen to a few pre-chosen songs, usually a combination of lively tunes & softer, more meaningful ones. Of course our musicians have to be ready for any changes, just in case the Lord leads differently. This is sometimes the most feeding part of the visit, so we really pray that it's a spiritual experience for them & that they will leave changed & touched & moved by the Lord!
It is, of course, important for the musicians or singers to be well-prepared & rehearsed. As the songs most suitable for visiting sheep are often not the same ones that we use for Family inspirations & meetings, this may require an initial investment of time & practice to build a good repertoire. This may even mean putting together a new singing team, as was the case in a nearby Home recently.
In this Home is a national sister who sings beautifully, but because she does not play the guitar nor come to the fore during Family inspirations, they had never thought of using her to sing to visitors. There is a brother in the Home who plays the guitar, but does not usually sing by himself, so they have now teamed up & together they have great potential for ministering the miracle of music to their Home's friends! PTL!
VIP tours" for some!
Occasionally, we also give visitors a VIP tour" which is organised by our Childcare Teamworker in counsel with those who know our visitors well. This tour varies depending on the situation, such as how much time the visitors have, how interested they are in our children, etc. The tour can include a brief visit to each of our childcare groups. In this case, the teachers & children have special classes & activities prepared for such situations which highlight our curriculum & methods in a way our outside friends can best relate to & appreciate.
On the other hand, such tours can be a bit overwhelming to first-time visitors, especially, & we've found that a smaller sample which allows for a more gradual introduction to our Family Home atmosphere & ways is generally more relatable & fruitful.
Placing importance on the visit
At least one of the Teamwork is always involved in helping minister to visitors. It's also very important that we have several nationals present or, at the very least, some foreigners who speak the local language fluently. We make sure everyone who may possibly be seen by our visitors, especially anyone directly involved, is well dressed & a very good sample. We have very good prayer before the visit & sometimes, when it's a very important visit, we hold a prayer vigil throughout the visit.
Another lesson for us has been the need to treat every visit with a real seriousness & concern, regardless of who is visiting. Whether it's a provisioning contact who in the System is a less important" person, or a real VIP who is looked up to in the eyes of the World, we try to put our utmost into it.--And some of the seemingly smaller" people have ended up being the greatest blessing to the Family! All are important in God's eyes!
Family Home samples can work wonders!
Many contacts who have visited our Home have left with a better understanding of what we're all about & a much greater vision to help support our Work. The more they see needs to be done, the more they get behind to help.
One example is our fish contact, who very generously donates large amounts of fish every two or three weeks. He's also sponsored Videos throughout the time he's known us, & just recently he gave a very large donation of over 100 very good quality chairs, worth over $2,000, for our dining & study areas. PTL! GBH!
One more example is V., who first helped with relatively small donations of curtain material. Next he sponsored several sets of Videos. We began to follow-up on him more regularly & when he recently moved into a new factory, he donated an incredible amount of sheets, towels, bed pads, & other material!--Nearly enough to supply sheets & towels for all the Homes in this country!
Be ready!
The Lord used a situation with one of our new provisioning contacts to teach us to always be ready & open for unexpected visits! We desperately needed a better water filter system for our drinking water, so we contacted a family-owned firm who seemed interested in helping & offered to send a technician over to size up the job. To our surprise, one of the owners came himself!
TTL, we were able to show him around a little & our children's singing group performed their show for him & the workers he'd brought with him. Before leaving, he remarked to one of our handymen, We came here to give, but we have only received!"--And they went on to donate & install a $4,000 water filter system, much larger than we had even asked for!
Each time they came to work on the installation, they brought other members of the family to meet us & five of them attended the Christmas program we held for our friends & have since all gotten saved! PTL!
MORE TIPS & TESTIMONIES!
Persistence pays off!
One of our favourite mottos is, If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" We can't let discouragement, weariness, busy schedules, or unfriendly aides & secretaries dissuade us. This is a battle, & the only direction to go is forward! We've learned that the most effective recourse in facing such obstacles is to pray!--To pray against their busy schedules, for a change of heart for their staff, that they'll be there when we call.--To pray to be given appointments, & that our friends themselves will make time for us. As we've committed these things to the Lord, the Lord has never failed to honour our faith somehow. TYJ!
Dear Dr. A. is one of the numerous examples of the fruit of such persistence. He was originally met by an outreach team from another city & his name was forwarded to us. We called for an appointment & after a few phone calls, one was granted.
After that first appointment, it became extremely difficult to see him again. We were burdened about his situation though, as he did seem sheepy, so every couple of weeks we tried calling him again. After a few months, he finally got on the phone & said, You certainly are persistent. Do you really think you can help me?" We said, Yes, of course we can!" Then he granted us an appointment which has led to a lasting, fruitful relationship! He's really grown in the Lord & he's proven to be a very sweet & dear man. PTL!
Over two years ago, our provisioners made a contact with an international firm which is a distributor of name-brand toiletry products. Though somewhat sceptical, the top man agreed to help regularly with fairly small donations. We put him on our mailing list, even though he quickly delegated the handling of donations to his subordinates & made himself unavailable for direct follow-up.
Over a year later, however, to our surprise, we received a letter from this same man asking if he could visit us because, as he put it, You couldn't be so persistent unless you really believe in what you're doing!" Up to this point, we were only having very close friends visit our Home, as we had just moved due to persecution. Before we were able to counsel & pray about this request, we received a second letter!
We still didn't know what to expect, but set a date & prepared for a VIP tour. He came with two other top people from the company & they were all simply overwhelmed by the sample! As they left, they pledged to help in a much bigger way than they had previously. They have since bought reference books for the classrooms, joined our Video sponsorship program, as well as increased the donations of their own products!
Persistence in inviting people to visit
Inviting visitors to our Home is another area where persistence really pays off. It seems the Enemy fights visits especially hard, because when they are able to visit our Home & see firsthand how we live, it is often a turning point in their lives, dispelling a lot of their doubts & questions. However, we've needed to be very prayerful about when to bring the subject up, as if we invite them prematurely & they say No," it makes further invitations to the Home more difficult & awkward. So a lot of counsel & prayer usually goes into our deciding to invite someone for a visit.
When we feel that it's time for them to come over, & we have the faith that they will feel close enough to us to accept our invitation, we do invite them. But even if they accept, persistence is still needed, as sometimes it's taken months of reminding them about it to get them to set a date or to actually come. Again we've had to be very sensitive to know when to push & when to let go.
Prayer can do what we can't!
Our 76-year-old live-out, Mr. N., is the fruit of DTD witnessing. When we met him three years ago, he was quite an unlikely candidate for any extensive follow-up, judging by outward appearances. He was old & ailing & his business was in such a mess that he had actually been contemplating suicide at the moment we rang his doorbell. But he got so wonderfully saved & was so appreciative of our fellowship & the Word we gave him that we couldn't forget him!
For the next two years he experienced even more betrayals by his friends & business associates, & as we encouraged him through these hard times, it's been thrilling to see him grow in the Lord & the Word as a result of these severe tests & trials. We've done what we could for him--feeding him the Word, visiting him weekly & phoning him almost daily, even spending the night at his place once a month or so--but prayer has accomplished far more than anything else!
At one point, he wanted a team to move in with him, but especially considering his failing health, we felt this was a greater responsibility than we could take on. Instead, we committed the situation to prayer. We also prayed against his crooked business partners & the System women who had surrounded him since before we met him.
In His time, the Lord freed dear Mr. N. from all of these bad influences & distractions & gave him a very sweet Muslim companion who has gotten saved, is very receptive to the Word, & gives him the TLC we would give him ourselves if we could.--A truly miraculous result of our prayers & Mr. N.'s own faithful witnessing! PTL!
Even when things looked darkest, Mr. N. kept speaking faith &, in answer to our prayers & his, the Lord has also freed him from his previous business entanglements & miraculously opened the door for a new major project! He gives the Lord all the glory for this & witnesses to the project managers & engineers involved. Through his past & present work, he has quite a few important friends & acquaintances, & he faithfully witnesses to them all by giving them pictures of Jesus for their offices, Fear Not" Tapes, DMs, etc.
Presently he is working out a long-term visa for one of our foreign members through his company--complete with monthly salary! GBH! His eagerness to help in this way is inspiring us to approach some of our other close friends to help in a similar manner. TTL for such a precious friend & supporter!
Learning to involve everyone!
Recently the Lord has been showing us many ways to involve more of the Home in follow-up. EAs & teens have been accompanying follow-up teamleaders on appointments & we try to involve others in the weekly Bible Study Groups which we hold for some of our live-outs & closest friends.
We've also been making a greater effort to share follow-up testimonies & prayer requests with the whole Home at mealtimes & our weekly Prayer & Praise Meetings. At times, our teens & JETTs have been assigned as personal prayer warriors for some of our follow-up contacts. This has not only brought results in the lives of our sheep, but also helped everyone to get to know & feel so much closer to our friends.
When one friend finally visited, the teen who had been praying specifically for him shared how happy she was to meet him, as she'd heard about him & a problem he'd been facing & she'd been praying for him personally. When our friend shared how the Lord had answered & our teen got quite excited about this, it made a lasting impression!
(It's important, of course, to be extremely prayerful about what is shared with the Home, especially our younger Members, regarding our friends & situations which they confide in us, as they often consider these matters quite personal.)
Again, one teen is responsible for preparing all of our English mail ministry letters, & others help with DF mail & envelope stuffing, addressing & stamping of major mailings such Christmas cards. Others are responsible to do very nice personalised thank-you cards for all cash gifts & donated items. Still others contribute artwork or lettering, bake & wrap cookies for special occasions, etc.
A little love goes a long, long way!
In addition to personalised thank-you's & mail ministry letters, birthday cards, & carolling visits at Christmas, there are so many special little gestures which show our friends our love & gratitude, & these never fail to touch their hearts & draw them closer. Each little thoughtful deed means so much to our friends, yet cost us so little by comparison!--And the Lord is always faithful to more than repay! PTL!
Last Christmas we chose some poems on friendship, which we laid out artistically & copied on special paper. These were then mounted in nice wooden frames with glass. They were simple, yet tasteful & made for a nice little memento which our friends proudly display in their offices.
We have given Precious Promise Boxes to some of our closest friends & these have been a real hit! People are so thankful for them & this has turned out to be a wonderful means to teach our friends to look more to the Lord in prayer & to depend upon & hear from Him more! We have also given a lot of our follow-up & provisioning contacts Daily Mights & appreciation certificates--another project that involved our young people & others in the Home as we enlisted their artistic talents in making the certificates.
Recently, we invited some of our very closest friends to a special appreciation night" at our Home. We had a beautiful dinner, sang songs & thanked them for all they are doing for the Lord & the Family. We closed with a very special prayer which touched all of their hearts! TYJ!
The possibilities are as unlimited & varied as the World full of sheep that the Lord has called us to win! Hallelujah!--And there's certainly something for everyone in this exciting ministry of follow-up! The more we do, the more excited we become about all there is yet to do!--PTL!
GBY! WRLY & pray that some of these testimonies & tips can be a blessing & help to you in your part of the harvest field! He that goeth forth & weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him!" He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully!" I have . . . ordained you, that ye should go & bring forth fruit, & that your fruit should remain!"--Psa.126:6; 2Cor.9:6; Jn.15:16.
Love, SEA DFing & follow-up teams
P.S. Update on follow-up lessons!
It's very interesting to note that not only in the two Homes we are referring to in this article, but also in many of the other Homes in the country, being involved in so much follow-up this year has been very fruitful support-wise.
Several of the Homes were involved during Christmas in carolling to some of their contacts & friends, either in their offices & factories; other Homes had many people come over during the Christmas season & it was quite amazing to see how much the Lord poured out financially! Oftentimes, people gave $200, $400 or up to $500 without ever being asked. PTL!
The Spearhead Home had quite a few appointments with top-ranking government officials during the Christmas season & around the New Year. Also, prominent members of the government have visited our Home. We have seen very good fruit in having our friends come over!
Some of the people who came over for Christmas certainly did seem more receptive because of the season; however, we are also recognising more & more that a good deal of their receptivity to an invitation & their willingness to come over is related to our enthusiasm & our belief that it is very important for them to visit us.
Particularly if friends or catacombers are people who are quite busy & or perhaps hold more important positions, a visit to our Home would actually mean a rather large commitment on their part. So in these cases, it seems important to sell our friends & contacts on the need to come & see", which will really help them grow. PTL!
It certainly seemed to indicate how much the Lord will continue to pour out to our Homes, if we are able to just put a little more into our sample & follow-up, as these people do seem so desperate to find the Lord's answers for their problems. They sincerely want to find someone who will love them & help them & teach them what the Word says. When you compare DFing & follow-up to another form of witnessing, such as distributing Videos, for example, & you subtract the seed corn & the various expenses involved from the support that is brought in, follow-up is potentially a much greater supporter! This is not to mention, of course, the enormous fruit that will result in the personal lives of the people ministered to! TYJ!
A DFing Ministry Aimed at the Top!
From a Spearhead Home in SEA
Dear Family,
Perhaps not every Home or Family Member is called to reach the top", but in our case, we found that as we made reaching that ministry a priority, the Lord was faithful to engineer situations for us to meet & minister to more top people, including leaders in the business & professional sectors, city fathers & their families. We'd like to emphasise from the very start that it hasn't been due to any exceptional talents, abilities or spirituality on our part. It's only Jesus! With that in mind, we pray the following lessons & tips will lift up the Lord & encourage your faith! PTL!
Lessons learned!
Several years ago, we began to aim higher in our DFing & follow-up, to reach those who could not only make a difference in helping us reach their own people, but could provide us with the support, backing & protection that we need in order to establish a truly lasting, fruitful Work. In addition to not seeking out more top people to witness to, we realised we weren't being faithful enough to minister to & follow-up on the few key people that the Lord had led us to. We needed to learn to set our sights higher, we needed more faith, & we needed to learn to better care for & feed His sheep!
Over these past several years, we've made countless mistakes, which have taught us valuable lessons. As the Lord began blessing our efforts with good, lasting fruit, we have also needed almost constant reminders to stay very humble, very desperate in our personal lives & very close to the Lord. The Lord has shown us that a pre-condition for His continuing to bless us with so many precious friends & contacts is for us to remember that anything that gets accomplished has been & must be accomplished by Him! TYJ!
Training by the clinical method!
As the number of our contacts has grown, new personnel has been brought in to minister to them. These learn by going out with the more experienced teamleaders, who are more knowledgeable about our ministry & contacts. The new people learn as they observe how the teamleader handles the contacts, & they usually begin with our more established friends.
Because the teamleader knows our friends better, he or she can anticipate any possible situations or questions that might come up, & coach the newcomer accordingly. For example, with one contact, because he knows us quite well & we've been through a lot with him, the atmosphere when visiting him is quite relaxed & open. But there are other situations where we are expected to be a bit more formal.
With some friends we play a teacher's role, other times that of a counsellor; we could be like a mother or father, a son, a daughter, or a friend. Some like to be informal, others are reverent as though we were priests or nuns! So much depends on the person & what he is like, so the teamleader can help the newcomer to be prepared for these different situations.
Deciding on how to present yourself
It's also helpful to rehearse beforehand how a newcomer to the team will present him- or herself & his or her personal information, in order to not be caught off-guard. In our situation, many of our DFers are single mothers, so in order to not seem too peculiar, some simply say that they are single, separated, or married if they still are legally.
It's also often necessary to pow-wow beforehand possible questions like, Who is your leader?" & How big is your group?"--So that we can be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh" (1Pet.3:15). Being well-prepared helps us to give a good, solid presentation, answering with conviction instead of hemming & hawing around.
Regarding the size of our group, we answer in truthful but general terms. As we have a dozen nationalities represented in our Home, it's obvious that we're international, though we don't emphasise our numbers, especially in this country. At the same time, we make it clear that we are bigger than just our Home & have branches in other cities so that in the event of persecution they won't be taken totally by surprise. (Editor's note: Of course, the presentation or explanation of your Work or projects will vary according to your situation, & can be decided upon in counsel with your Shepherds.)
Sharing our testimonies with prominent people
In preparing to present our personal testimonies, because the local culture is rather conservative, we try to emphasise the parts of our life stories which are more relatable to them, such as how we experienced loneliness, or the desire for a purpose in life, etc. Often, deliverance from our drug-ridden hippie backgrounds, as wonderful & miraculous as that was, is just beyond the comprehension of these older people from an entirely different culture.
If any of our team members are new in the Lord, it has been especially important to always rehearse, pow-wow & share pointers on the way they answer questions or share their testimony, as a learning help for them.
Pointers for nationals
If nationals, it's also helpful to remind them not to speak against their own customs & traditions, as locals are normally very proud & protective of their culture. Our nationals also need to remember, as we all do, not to use Family-oriented terms, like I had a burden" or I got a check", which some might not understand.
At the same time, however, our friends very much admire it when our nationals are able to speak humbly, & respectfully, but with conviction about our message. GB our dear nationals, who have been an integral part of our ministry & are shining examples, GB'em!
Having nationals who can represent the local Work helps to set people at ease & gives them someone they can relate to. One national sister in particular has been a big blessing with our more important friends because of her background as a newspaper reporter for a foreign press agency before she joined.
Having the faith to relate to top people!
A major factor to consider, especially when reaching & ministering to older, highly successful" members of the business community, for example, is the ability of each witnesser to relate to the type of people he or she is trying to win. Initially some Family Members, though generally very good witnessers, may have a hard time overcoming certain fears or inhibitions when witnessing to people on this higher level, but this can often be overcome through prayer, more training & experience.
Realising the seriousness of this ministry
It's also very important for each new person involved in follow-up & DFing to see the serious side of this ministry. A lot of the important people we meet are such babes in the Spirit, that it's sometimes easy to be caught off guard by their simplicity. Sometimes, if we look on outward appearances, we may perhaps not respect them enough or not be careful enough with our words.
On the other hand, if we consider these friends' positions & their role in society, then we can see the situation in the Spirit & appreciate the serious spiritual battle involved. When ministering to top people, we need to constantly remind ourselves who they are & not be thrown off because they are very warm & receptive & helpful. We must stir ourselves up to be very, very desperate!
Entering their offices, we are stepping onto a spiritual battleground & we can't take anything for granted! Just because a friend has been very open & receptive for the last several years, this doesn't guarantee that the meeting will go well, because anything could happen while we are visiting. A friend of his could drop by who is a real goat, or we could be unexpectedly introduced to a very top person. No one & no appointment is in the bag", so to speak. It takes constant desperation & constant prayer!
Becoming one!
Learning the local language has been a major necessity. Even though some of our friends speak English fluently, they still expect it of us". One such friend is W., a very influential friend, who came for dinner. The sister who knows him best was going to give a little speech over dinner, but as soon as she started in English, he interrupted her, saying, Speak my language!" He was quite pleased with the fact that she was able to do so, & this helped to win his heart.
Another friend said, How can you help the people, when you can't speak the language?" Learning the language has now become a major, urgent project for those on our team who don't already speak it!
We've also tried to adapt some of the simple little local customs, such as hanging a standard-size flag on our front gate during special national holidays, etc. It's interesting to note that when another group was persecuted here recently, they were accused of not doing these things! It's equally important to learn what is offensive to their culture.
The locals usually dress fashionably, while at the same time quite conservatively. Consequently, our women have needed to dress accordingly, avoiding any outfits that could be considered too sexy or casual, opting for the more official", yet feminine look. We always check each other's outfits, making sure they are neat & tidy & a good sample.
Accepting invitations
Certain traditional ceremonies are very important to the people here, such as funerals, the blessing ceremonies for a new home or project, the New Year, certain birthdays, weddings, etc. In inviting us to these ceremonies, our friends are in effect inviting us into their inner circle & publicly acknowledging their relationship with us. Turning down their invitations could be a definite setback in trying to win them.
For these reasons, we do at times accept invitations to a semi-official occasion or a ceremony like this. A lot depends on who is inviting us & what they are inviting us to, but more often than not we leave ourselves open to accepting an invitation to this kind of function.
On the other hand, however, out-of-town trips, dinner & lunch invitations are a little different. As Mama explained in the Word-Witnessing Revolution" series, it's nearly always harder to minister to people at dinner or luncheon appointments or at social gatherings, so we try to avoid those when we can. It's also important that we not give our friends the impression that we have lots & lots of time on our hands to just socialise. They need to realise that we have a very full & busy schedule with a lot of important work to do for the Lord.
Therefore, we usually try to politely decline any such invitations. In some cases, however, sometimes this is truly all the time the people we are ministering to have away from their work, so we would rather take it than miss seeing them altogether. Also, these invitations sometimes come from very top people whom we are trying to win & can hardly refuse. As always, such decisions must be very prayerfully considered from all angles.
The balance to becoming one"!
Of course there is also a balance to becoming one" in other areas as well & we've needed to be very prayerful in each situation, as we definitely don't want to conform so much that we compromise our convictions. Nevertheless, we've found that our little efforts to show our consideration & respect for what is important to them has often helped them receive our message better.
Teamworking for greatest fruitfulness!
We have found that teamwork & counsel-ling are essential to every aspect of this ministry. The lessons brought out in the FSM Teamwork Tips" (FSM 180) helped us a great deal, particularly in the areas of overcoming sensitivity, comparing or competitiveness that could hinder our unity & effectiveness. For the sake of our friends' spiritual growth in the Lord, we need to constantly remind ourselves to lay aside our own personal burdens, desires & difficulties to put the needs of the sheep first.
None of our friends can be anyone's personal baby or project. Although each contact has a mommy" responsible for them, it's very much a united effort to bring our spiritual babies to the birth & then keep them growing healthy & strong.
As was pointed out in the FSM, honest communication is a prerequisite to good teamworking & it's a muscle we've needed to exercise, both amongst ourselves or with our Shepherds. We've had to learn to thoroughly & honestly report on our activities & appointments, as well as our mistakes, & to be open & willing to receive any counsel, guidance & correction needed.
When meeting with our very top contacts, we pray over, pow-wow & plan the appointment ahead of time, discussing possible topics that could come up, questions they might ask, or ground we would like to cover in our time of sharing the Word with them. We have seen how it's important to create that vacuum for the Lord to show us needed lessons, as in the multitude of counsellors there is safety" & every purpose is established by counsel". (Pro.11:14b; 20:18a)
(Editor's note: Teamwork & prayerful counsel together could be even more essential in ministering to the very top, with whom appointments can be few & far between. As you may not be able to minister to these people often, due to their pressing schedules, opportunities to feed them are very precious, & you will want them to be as fruitful & effective as possible.)
Learning how to teamwork better has been very unifying for us! It's such a good reminder of just how much we need the Lord & each other! Working in teamwork as we do, the Lord gets all the glory!
Fruit of a Regular Mail Ministry!
(Editor's note: The mail ministry explained on pgs.9-11 involves sending individually customised letters every month. If you are not involved in a large-scale DFing ministry, chances are that your Home may not have the time & personnel for sending individual letters to all your contacts & friends every month.
(However, we want to encourage you that you don't have to have a big computerised set-up, or someone available several days a week to take care of sending individual letters to your friends. Just sending DFs or other follow-up material, along with photocopied newsletters or mail ministry letters, with a personal note added on in handwriting, can have the same effect of keeping your friends fed & inspired. The point is that regular feeding of the Word through the mail, coupled with sincere expressions of personal concern & prayer, bears lots of good fruit!)
From Mercy Delight, SEA:
One afternoon this month we got a pager message with a time for an appointment in Mr. T.'s office, a man to whom I had recently sent one of our mail ministry stock letters. In just two minutes on our initial visit he got a set of KVs & some Tapes & on our second visit had gotten saved.
The letter that we had just sent him was on the subject of leadership, & it had really turned his key, so that when we arrived at his office he acted like we were his old & close friends & was so elated about the letter & our concern. He almost immediately handed us a large donation & asked for more tools & how he could help us. He said that he has enough for himself, & wants to help others, & because of our concern he said he felt very close to us.
Besides Mr. T., we have received many other warm responses to our personalised letters, which are fuelling our enthusiasm for the mail ministry! When we follow-up on the people who have received these letters, sometimes people whom we have met only once before, they are very obliging & kind to us because of the concern we have shown them. TTL for His concern for His sheep!
From John Delight, SEA:
We were able to do some systematic follow-up of some of our most potential kings, supporters, & friends recently.--And it really paid off! We had a special project to propose to them for their help & participation, & two of them helped very generously.
Mr. S., a banker, has been getting Tapes & Posters as well as our mail ministry letters for some time, & so we felt it was time to dive a bit deeper into the water & ask him for more direct help. He didn't even blink an eye before he said he would be happy to sponsor some Videos & help towards our new van, which he did quite generously!
He also told us that he photocopies many of the articles which we've been giving him, & passes them around to friends, relatives & colleagues. He said that many of his staff & colleagues use his company car & so he has left many of our Tapes in the car & puts the articles we give him in the pocket of the seats for the people who are a captive audience to read. He said that some of his friends are even saying he is becoming a good preacher by leaving all these materials around!
From Paola, SEA:
Dr. P., a DFer, writes, Rereading some of your letters, I marvel at your enthusiastic conviction in your walk with the Lord. Some give their labour & love by supporting the Lord's Work directly, others give their support financially. Enclosed is my way of applauding your efforts ($500). May the Lord bless & keep you prosperous in your missionary Work."
From a Spearhead Home, SEA:
We discovered that we had mistakenly been sending mail ministry letters to a man we had never met, but who had the same name as a man we met about a year ago! When we discovered the error, we felt it might just possibly be the Lord, so we decided to give this man a call. He had been reading these beautiful letters & was so thankful for them, that now we are sharing the Word with him on a weekly basis, as he is a real sheep! His ways are not our ways," & it was interesting to see how Jesus used one of our mistakes as a way to reach this particular man who must be very important to Him!
From Nina, Spearhead Home, SEA:
In our home we send out over 100 of our mail ministry letters to all our precious DF contacts every month. Many of them we haven't seen for quite a long time as either they're working in different towns or they've been too busy for an appointment, but nevertheless we don't want to lose contact with them. I sometimes wonder if they're reading these letters or what they think of us continuing to send them each month, as many of them have never replied back to us. But whenever we've been able to see these different friends, they say how much they appreciate our letters to them.
Here are some comments: Your letter came right in my time of need. . . . I'm was just going through something & was so discouraged, but your letter came & gave me hope & courage to keep going!" Another said, I keep everything you send me in my files & I always read your materials again & again whenever I need the encouragement. They're precious treasures to me!"
Another man who has quite a big responsibility mentioned that, Every letter that comes to me is always full of problems or requests . . . but yours are different, as they are full of power, encouragement, love & concern which I've never found before in my life."
Stick-to-it-iveness Helped Us Win the Top!
Testimonies from a SEA Spearhead Home!
In this Eastern land, many precious friends we have witnessed to have become protectors of the Work here. It has been very inspiring to see how they've grown from complete pagans to little spiritual babies, as a result of faithfully feeding them the Word, as well as lots of desperate prayer, patience & perseverance on our part.--Living proof that real Love never fails!"
Never forget a sheep!
Mr. C. is a tall & burly man with a straightforward personality, who turned out to be quite a precious sheep. Before we met him the Lord had already been working on him, since he got involved in a near-fatal car accident. Because of his exposure to Christian teaching during his school days, he readily got saved & was really excited about the Word we shared. He even photocopied pertinent portions & made them required reading for his staff!
However, after about five visits, he got promoted to a top position & had to move to a high security location. The new job kept him very busy, & despite our efforts to keep in touch by phone & mail, we didn't see him for a year.
We wondered sometimes if perhaps he didn't want to see us any more, but we were just so burdened about him & remembered his receptivity to the Word, so we continued sending him DFs by faith. We also continued to pray for him at our weekly DF & follow-up meetings.
Finally, we decided to just wait for him at the reception area of his compound, even if it took all day to do so! As we did our part, the Lord blessed our efforts & we had a very meaningful reunion! One of his first comments was, I knew you'd find a way to reach me!"
He then proceeded to show us all the letters & DFs which he had neatly stacked on his very full desk, commenting that when anyone asks about them, he either explains it or loans it out to them. His precious response made us ever so thankful we didn't give up trying to see him! TTL, from then on we were able to have steady regular appointments.
When persecution threatened to seriously disrupt the Work here, Mr. C. was one of the very first friends we approached. He said in his deep & gruff voice, Who is trying to persecute you?!" He then immediately recommended us to one of his top Roman friends, Mr. B., who helped us on Mr. C.'s recommendation alone! PTL! GBH!
A tough nut to crack!
Mr. C. had encouraged us to visit this top Roman official, Mr. B., who did help us during persecution. He began to faithfully give us weekly appointments, but his reaction to our visits made us very doubtful of his receptivity. He literally would not say a word, & we had to do all the talking most of the time. Sometimes he would even start clipping his nails while we were talking to him.
Although he had helped us during persecution, we found that he was quite sceptical & a virtual atheist. During the first nine months that we ministered to him, he gave no outward indication whatsoever that our visits or the Word were bearing any fruit in his life. We wanted very much to talk about our group, as he had heard so many lies during the persecution, but he said that he didn't have any questions, & the only ray of hope we had was that he continued to give us appointments.
So, we continued desperately praying for him & the Lord was faithful to show us the key to reaching him! Over a period of time we tried to reassure him of God's Love for him, & that seemed to really affect him. On one appointment, he confessed, I want to love God, too!" What an answer to prayer!
Then an incident happened where his niece tried to warn him about us & he answered, I know these are good people." She also insisted that he visit her church, so out of curiosity he went to church for the first time. That was enough to convince him, & he said, You people are the ones who are teaching about God in the right way!"
On subsequent visits, he opened up more & more. Finally he surprised us by saying, I have so many problems & I want to be happy. I can see that you're happy & this makes me want to know God, too." PTL! It was a definite breakthrough & now Mr. B. is such a changed man! He reads the Bible regularly, sincerely prays at each of our visits, helps with generous monthly support & genuinely hungers for the Word!
Visiting the Home & seeing the children drew him even closer to the Family, helping him see firsthand the good fruits of our way of life. Dad said, Sometimes we need to remember that even though it doesn't look like they're receiving anything, if they're still listening, maybe they're receiving more than we realise!" (DB1, ML#639:12). TYJ for this very fitting counsel, which has certainly proven true in Mr. B.'s life!
An answer to desperate prayer!
Mr. I.'s testimony is somewhat similar to Mr. B.'s. He was introduced to us by one of our top Roman friends when we needed help with some legal matters. At first we were quite hesitant, even frightened, to approach him, as he was in a position to make or break us", if he turned out to be unfavourable! After a lot of prayer & counselling with our Shepherds, we decided to cautiously venture into this open door to minister to him.
It seemed a good opportunity for him to get to know us personally, as he'd probably eventually hear a lot of lies about us. On one of our first visits, we actually saw a video from a local church organisation, entitled The Children of God!" on his desk. We're not sure if he watched it or not, but it sure got us desperately praying that we could somehow win this man!
Mr. I. gave us almost weekly appointments, but due to a lack of any sign of hunger for what we had to share with him, we were tempted to think that he was seeing us out of duty alone. We finally decided to get desperate in prayer about his situation, both in our group meetings & before & after each appointment.
The Lord showed us that since he seemed to be quite gentlemanly in his ways, it was possible that he was hesitant to ask us any questions for fear of offending us. At our next appointment, we told him, You must be wondering why we visit you often, what our purpose is, etc." He said, Yes," so we started to tell him more about our Work & projects we have here.
We also started to pray for him at the end of our visits, which he probably equates with the blessing" that most people of this country bestow on each other. This seemed to help him realise our sincerity & he really appreciated & respected these prayers. He then made steady progress & started to warm up to us, becoming more friendly & bubbly & even outwardly expressing his appreciation & faith in the Word we share with him. Now it's a real joy & blessing to feed him!
Reaching those who can influence others!
After praying for new pioneering areas in our witnessing, we went to a public place where there were groups of people who seemed to be either businessmen or professionals. One man in particular was being shown a lot of respect by his colleagues. Our team approached him & were able to talk to him & get his card.
As we followed up on him later, we learned he is quite an important man in this country. As he is very well-educated & quite the intellectual, we were very pleasantly surprised to meet such an important & prominent man who was so receptive to the Word! It was a direct answer to prayer that we were able to meet him.
He seems to want to sincerely do his best to help others & to be an influence for the good. Since he is a devout Buddhist, in the beginning we tailored his Word time with quotes on Character", Greatness", Loyalty", Leadership", etc. Later we were able to progress to meatier material.
Whenever we are not able to visit with him personally because of his very busy schedule, we have found that sending him our personalised mail ministry letters has helped us to have that continued link with him, which has borne very good fruit in helping him continue to grow spiritually, which greatly encouraged us as to the value & importance of our mail ministry here.
He takes the Word very seriously, & since he is a man of action he really tries to apply what he has learned. Often there have been times when he would have an important meeting right after a visit with us & he would take our quote sheets with him to the meeting. He has told us that he keeps a file of all of our material & often makes use of it in his speeches.
Knowing that he is a man of influence, it has been really exciting to see how the Word being fed to this one man has gone a lot further than we ever dreamed of or could have personally done ourselves! You should pray for the Lord to lead you to people that not only have influence . . . but those who, when you invest so much in them . . . are going to be bellwethers, real labour leaders . . . who are going to be able to teach others!" (Maria 64:2, FSM 63)
Over the past year, he's also to come to know our Work better & he always inquires about how we are doing, never failing to thank us for helping with the morality of our country". n

Copyright 1996 The Family