—MONovember, 1971NO.127—LTA

—Decision-Making and Establishing Colonies

My Precious children: Greetings in Jesus' Dear Name! Thank you so much for all your letters, tapes, reports, pictures, etc. We truly appreciate them and every word from you, enjoying all the good news, praising God for your glorious victories, and praying earnestly for your problems and needs! Thank you so much for writing to us and keeping us posted!

However, I'm sure you realise, because of the hundreds of letters we receive, it will be impossible to answer each of you individually, but we do try to deal with the most serious requests and problems which seem to occur the most frequently, and OUR OVERALL SUGGESTIONS INCLUDE YOU AND YOUR PERSONAL PROBLEM! SO THIS LETTER IS TO YOU PERSONALLY AND OTHERS WHO HAVE SIMILAR NEEDS! We'll try to deal particularly with subjects which affect all of us!

DECISION-MAKING—HOW, WHO AND WHY

1. DECISIONS: As we told you once before, like Moses of old‚ it is humanly impossible for us to judge every single matter which some of you write us about! IT'S MY JOB TO HEAR FROM THE LORD IN GENERALITIES OR SPECIFICS, WHATEVER HE'S INTERESTED IN, AND PASS IT ON TO YOU, whether it be something affecting the whole Revolution, or just you personally‚ but my main job is to deal with those subjects which affect most all of us!

2. Therefore, since I am busy getting God's answers to major problems regarding major decisions regarding God's will for us all. IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO TAKE MOST OF THE MINOR PROBLEMS TO THE LORD AND YOUR LEADERS YOURSELF IF YOU NEED AN IMMEDIATE ANSWER—that is your local leaders—DECISIONS REGARDING MARRIAGES, PERSONAL PROBLEMS. LOCAL COLONIES, ETC. SHOULD BE HANDLED ON THE LOCAL LEVEL BY YOU AND YOUR LOCAL LEADERS, if possible‚ or at least at the regional level‚ if too much for you and your local leaders; if you expect an early answer or indeed, any answer at all, THE MATTER SHOULD BE HANDLED BY THOSE WHO KNOW THE SITUATION BEST!

3. MANY OF THE QUESTIONS YOU WRITE US ABOUT NEED IMMEDIATE ATTENTION AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR AN ANSWER FROM US after days or weeks of delay in transit, or while we're wading through volumes of other mail. Recently, a band leader wrote to us saying that his regional leader had told him to write us to ask permission to listen to certain music albums of modern music in order to help his band know what kind of music the kids like today, to help style theirs accordingly to appeal to today's youth—not yesterday's!

4. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MINOR DECISION WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE OFFICER he first requested it of‚ and not even referred to me at all! It's an important matter and certainly important to our bands‚ and I think it's a very wise thing to do, and a very smart thing of this band leader to think of in order to keep in touch with today's contemporary music! However, his superior should certainly have been able to make this minor decision of merely listening to a few record albums without having to refer it to me! This is ridiculous, and a dandy bad example of the kind of decisions I don't need to make, and THE LEADER WHO TOLD HIM TO WRITE ME IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE MADE IT!

5. If a local or even a colony leader and much more, a Regional or National leader is not enough in touch with the Lord to make a little decision like listening to a record, but has to refer it to me, My God, we'll never get anywhere—and maybe THAT'S WHY SOME OF YOU ARE SO BOGGED DOWN! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE THE SMALLEST DECISION ON YOUR OWN, and then you turn around and make some monumental earth- shaking decision, affecting the closing or moving of whole Colonies or drastic top level massive personnel changes, without even consulting me!

6. This is a straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel! You stir up the fruit basket, disband whole Colonies, change the leaders all around, leave other Colonies almost leaderless, ship most of the top ones to the Northwest or Europe without even waiting for a suggestion, but then you have to ask this poor band leader to write me if he can listen to a record, and have to wait weeks for an answer, or maybe never! May God help us!

7. One poor guy in a far off other land was recently told by one of our national leaders to write to me to find out who he should marry! Poor guy! He may be too old to get married by the time he gets an answer! Besides I've never even met the girls in his Colony‚ and the kind of girls I like might not even be to his choosing! MAY GOD HELP US ALL TO MAKE DECISIONS!

8. This is the type of decision which certainly should be made on the local level, and in this case, even by the individuals personally concerned! I certainly think it's a wonderful thing YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED, and I certainly think you should, and I'm all for it‚ but contrary to what our enemies say about us, we not only don't make people get married—we don't even choose their mates for them! WE ONLY COUNSEL, ADVISE, APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE— AND IT'S ALL STRICTLY VOLUNTARY! YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO FOLLOW OUR SUGGESTIONS!

9. And IF THERE'S ANY DECISION WHICH OUGHT TO BE MADE BY THE INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED, BETWEEN THEM AND THE LORD, IT IS CERTAINLY MARRIAGE!—And if you can't find them out from the Lord who you're supposed to marry you, you'd better not get married! But when you two have made your choice and settled it with each other and the Lord, we just want to know about it, that's all! And I don't know of one of your decisions along this line yet that we haven't approved of! We may not always like your choice, and we may warn you of any serious complication involved, but you're the ones who have to live together, so it's your marriage!

10. And for God's sake, I certainly don't have to make that decision for you much less even approve of it! Your local Colony leaders are the only ones you should have to consult on matters of marriage! NOW WHEN IT COMES TO MAJOR LEADERS MARRYING, SUCH AS REGIONAL OR NATIONAL, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT IT—BUT IT'S STILL YOUR DECISION! I hope none of you leaders are choosing mates for your people yourselves, or you're apt to get blamed for it later! You matchmakers would like to get credit now, but just remember, you'll also get the blame later! A young PERSON SHOULD HAVE NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME FOR THEIR MARRIAGE!

11. Personally, unless they're madly in love, desperately in need‚ or need to get married for the Lord's Work's sake, or for the other person's sake‚ I would discourage it!—And certainly, if they haven't got the guts to make their own decision! SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO HAVE YOU MAKE DECISION FOR THEM SO THEY WON'T HAVE TO PUT FORTH THE EFFORT in prayer and sober analysing of the situation, and do the hard work of making the decision, especially when later they might be blamed for it! But that's the price of making a decision!

12. People even want me to name their babies! My God, IF YOU CAN'T MAKE A LITTLE DECISION LIKE THAT, HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BE A LEADER! At the rate we're going, I'd have to spend my full time just naming babies! God bless you! I love you! and I'd love to name your baby, and I have named a few, but this was only in rare instances where particularly led by the Lord for some very important reason! So if the Lord doesn't inspire me to name your baby without your asking for it, He's probably going to leave that major decision up to you! After all, you know yourselves better than I do and are more apt to know what he's going to be like, mostly like his Old Man or his Old Lady, so you ought to know what to name him! But if you do want something special from the Lord for him, why don't you ask the Lord for it?—Most of you have, thank the Lord! God bless you!

13. These are just a few examples of the kinds of decisions you ought to be making for yourselves—because IF THERE'S ANYTHING A POTENTIAL LEADER NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO DO, IT'S TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS! I don't think you should even have to ask anybody whether you can listen to a record, who you should marry, or what to name your baby—and this goes for choosing Bible names‚ too! If you can't even make these decisions for yourself, how you ever going to be a leader and make major decisions affecting others?

14. We have strict discipline and certain rules, like an Army!—For we are an Army! But YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THESE GUIDELINES, on your own, and with the Lord's help, and only refer it to your leaders if it's something they have to decide, and what you're not allowed to decide, because IF YOU DON'T START LEARNING HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS NOW FOR AT LEAST YOURSELF, YOU'LL NEVER BE A LEADER—AND WE NEED LEADERS—NOT ROBOTS—OR SLAVES!

15. And I'll tell you right now that INDECISION CAN DRIVE YOU CRAZY, so you'd better learn how to make decisions with the help of the Lord and His Word, and none of these decisions should be referred to your leaders unless it's something that they only are supposed to decide! Remember LEADERS, THE RULE: DON'T DO ANYTHING SOMEONE ELSE CAN DO!—ONLY THE THINGS THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN DO BUT YOU! OTHERWISE, YOU'LL BE BUSY DOING EVERYONE'S JOB BUT YOUR OWN! May God help you!

MAKING DECISIONS IS LEADERSHIP TRAINING

16. At one of our first Colonies, at the very beginning of the Revolution, when there were only a dozen or two in the Colony, I turned everything over to Shad and his first and second assistants, I told them to choose their own staff, make their own rules, set up their own schedule‚ try to hustle their own food, trust God for their own needs, have their own classes‚ do their witnessing, hold their own meetings, play their own music‚ and run the whole thing themselves, and not to bother me with anything they didn't have to, and only then just major decisions they couldn't handle amongst themselves. They were to be independent and indigenous as much as they possibly could, and not ask me for help unless they couldn't make it themselves.

17. The Lord had brought me there, given me the burden to work amongst the youth, and given me the ideas, and he gave us a place to work, but most of all He was trying to help the youth to help themselves, with only His and my help! They were to do everything they could for themselves, and only to look to us when they couldn't handle it, otherwise it was to be their work, and God's Work‚ not mine!—And that's why God blessed! I'm just the fuse that ignites the bomb!—You're the explosion!—And God's the Power! Hallelujah! And it started a Revolution!

18. IT WAS NEVER A DICTATORSHIP, except by the Spirit of God! I didn't even know what was going on down there half the time! All I did was get things from the Lord and come down and teach them and light your fire—and you did the burning! I was only little flame that got you started! I merely imparted to you the vision and message of God, and showed you which way to go! I merely set you the example by leading you in some of those early classes, meetings‚ demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, picketing, beach baptisms, revolutionary yells, caravaning, camping, costuming, dancing, invading, organizing, etc! That's all I did! You and the Lord have done all the rest! He got me started, and I only got you started, and you and He are finishing the job!

19. IF YOU START DEPENDING ON ME NOW FOR EVERYTHING AT THIS LATE date, with as many Colonies and people as we have now and the many more we're going to have—if you start depending on me for everything and all your decisions and all your faith and all your guidance and every move you make, you'll never get anywhere! The Lord just aims us, I squeeze the trigger, and you do the job! That's the way it is, and that's the way it has to be! May God help you!

20. THAT'S WHY WHEN I MAKE A SUGGESTION FOR ONE COLONY THAT MIGHT WORK THERE‚ IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN IT WOULD WORK EVERYWHERE UNDER ALL CONDITIONS, SO YOU'VE GOT TO LEARN YOUR OWN DECISIONS WITH THE LORD'S DIRECT GUIDANCE, INDIVIDUALLY FOR EACH COLONY, RIGHT THERE AND ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT! If you wait for me, you may be too late! The Lord and I are way out in front of you showing you the general direction, but the details and specific decisions on how to best carry it out in each individual case and situation—these must be up to you personally!

21. How many times have I told you leaders when you've written or called me on the phone and asked me what to do about this or that little problem, I've had to tell you I don't know; IT'S UP TO YOU! YOU'RE THERE, AND KNOW THE SITUATION BETTER THAN I DO, SO YOU'RE THE ONE TO MAKE THE DECISION WITH THE LORD'S HELP! I GIVE YOU GOD'S GENERAL OVERALL PLAN! IT'S UP TO YOU TO CARRY OUT THE DETAILS AND SPECIFICS and work out the logistics and individual tactics! Commander in Chief lays down the general battle plans and gives the general command to advance, but his generals and officers must work out the details‚ and the foot soldiers have got to carry them out!

22. So THIS ARMY HAS GOT TO BE MOSTLY DIRECTED FROM ITS HEADQUARTERS IN HEAVEN, by the Communication of the Holy Spirit, since our ground communications are very slow and very poor and extremely inadequate and frequently disrupted! But IF YOU FOLLOW THE LORD YOU'LL NEVER GO WRONG. He knows exactly what to do, and all you've got to do is ask Him, and you can get an answer in a split second! Whereas you might have to wait weeks to hear from me, or even some of your other officers! Keep in touch with Heaven! Jesus never fails!

23. IF EVERY LITTLE DECISION IN THIS WHOLE WAR IS GOING TO HAVE TO AWAIT MY PERSONAL APPROVAL‚ YOU'LL NEVER GET ANYWHERE! You're not only going to have to pick a mate and names for the babies and your own records‚ but you're also going to have plan individual battles, specific instructions, get God's individual leading‚ and follow His direct orders right on the front lines!—Where you can't wait weeks for an answer! Stop, Look, and Listen! Let God lead! Hallelujah!

24. Finally‚ A PRETTY GOOD RULE TO FOLLOW ON DECISIONS IS THIS: MAKE ALL THE DECISIONS YOU CAN!—THOSE YOU CAN'T MAKE, PASS ON TO YOUR NEXT HIGHEST OFFICER!—Not the top unless he's it! YOU'RE BOUND TO MAKE SOME MISTAKES, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS, even if sometimes you're wrong and get scolded by a superior officer for blowing it—unless he wants to make them all for you! And if he does, he's not doing his own job, which is HELP YOU LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS TO MAKE A LEADER OUT OF YOU! If he interferes too much with your own vision, faith, initiative, and courage, he may wind up doing the whole job himself, when he ought to be doing something else,—like making you do it!

25. In fact, when all is said and done, if you come right down to it, that's THE MAIN REASON WE'RE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE: TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS UNDER GOD'S GUIDANCE, from the Garden of Eden to the present! God has set down the general rules for the War in His Soldier's Handbook—the Bible, and He has furnished an excellent means of communication with Headquarters: Prayer! So if you can't find that specific situation in your Rulebook‚ all you have to do is call Heaven, and they'll let you know what you do! But if you can't seem to get an answer from either source, THE LAST THING TO DO IS ASK YOUR EARTHLY LEADERS! THEY'RE ONLY A LAST RESORT! THIS WAR DEPENDS ON YOU!—And your individual Colony‚ and what you and it have faith for!

26. OTHERWISE, YOU'LL GROW OLD AND STALE-MATED WHILE WAITING FOR AN ANSWER from some of us leaders who know nothing about the situation! If we're going to grow fast and win the youth of the world before He comes, you're going to have to forge ahead on your own, and God and His Word, and expect Him to keep you going, and not us! He just used us to get you started: Now you're on your own and Him! Get going! Do whatever you and He think is best! Don't ask us! That's the only way you're ever going to get anywhere—because I can't have the faith for your job, or make your decisions for you! I only have the faith for your own, and to make my own decisions!

27. That's the heaven of a way to run a war, but it's God own way! It's the way the Early Church operated! Neither Peter nor Paul were Popes, dictating every move! They were busy running around doing their own jobs, fighting their own battles, starting their own Colonies, winning their own disciples! They could only advise and counsel others from what they themselves had already learned—and they did a lot of this by letter, but the people themselves had to make their own decisions, with the help of the Lord by His Spirit!

THE GUIDELINES FOR DECISION-MAKING ARE IN MO LETTERS AND BIBLE

28. THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO THROUGH THE MO LETTERS, like Paul's Epistles. We're TRYING TO ADVISE YOU FROM WHAT WE'VE LEARNED FROM THE LORD, and our own experience, but you don't necessarily have to do what we say! YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS‚ according to your own leadings from the Lord! You don't have to agree with me! I don't even agree with everything Paul had to say‚ and I'm sure he made a few mistakes, as I know I have!

29. BUT ONE THING I HAVE FOUND, AND THAT IS THAT NEARLY EVERY QUESTION YOU DO ASK ME HAS ALREADY BEEN COVERED IN DETAIL IN SOME MO LETTER‚ OR IN THE BIBLE! SO YOUR MAIN PROBLEM, WHEN YOU ASK THESE QUESTIONS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANSWERED, IS, THAT YOU'RE EITHER NOT STUDYING YOUR BIBLE OR THE MO LETTERS‚ OR YOU'D ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER! LIKE THE BIBLE‚ THE LETTERS WON'T DO YOU ANY GOOD IF YOU DON'T READ AND STUDY THEM AND EVEN REVIEW THEM!

30. So, the next time you feel like writing me about this or that, why don't you first see if the answer's in the Bible or you can get it by the Spirit‚ or it's already been answered in another MO Letter before you sit down and write me a lengthy letter which it may be weeks before I even have time to read, much less answer! Amen? God bless you! I love you! BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET ANY QUICK ANSWERS, YOU BETTER GET THEM FROM THE BIBLE, THE LORD, A PREVIOUS MO LETTER, OR ONE OF YOUR IMMEDIATE LEADERS, NOT ME! SORRY—I'm just too slow, and so are letters!

31. NOW, WHAT YOU SHOULD WRITE ME ABOUT, OF COURSE, IS ANY MAJOR DECISIONS AFFECTING THE OVERALL WORK AND GENERAL PRACTICES AND POLICIES, as some have written me lately‚ like, Javan, about general communications‚ Cephas, about Security in our literature, Josh, Jeth, and Deb, about general overall plans, Shiph, about the deplorable spiritual condition of a deteriorating Colony without adequate leadership; Watchman, about his visions for general evangelism (only he didn't wait for an answer, which is probably a good thing, `cause if he had, he'd probably still be waiting!—Only I had said, "Don't go to Florida unless you have a definite open door—a miraculous leading of the Lord"! So the last I heard‚ they're still camping out in Bayfront Park‚ or somewhere! God bless them! May the Lord have mercy on them, but I guess he got his permission from somebody!)—Or Deb, Rachel, or Hannah's burdens for the babies and our children's policies worldwide; and Ho, Faith and Benjamin's suggestion regarding new European teams, literature, and the mail, etc. These we needed to know and agree on generally, especially before making any major moves! Praise the Lord!—EVEN YOUR SUGGESTIONS ABOUT WHAT TO WRITE IN MO LETTERS!

32. But I sure like the way Benjamin in New York had the faith and initiative and the vision to see the need or needs of the Eastern Colonies and the New York Work and had the guts to go ahead and carry it out on his own without waiting to hear from anybody but the Lord—and God answered his faith‚ vision, courage, and initiative by giving him one of the best Colonies in the country that's going strong. WHEREAS ANOTHER MAJOR COLONY KEPT US BUSY TRYING TO ANSWER EVERYTHING‚ INSTEAD OF RELYING MORE ON THE LORD, PRAYER‚ AND PREVIOUS MO LETTERS, AND NEARLY WENT TO PIECES! However, some of your individual moves have not been without some mistakes‚ particularly in the matter of robbing Peter to pay Paul by ripping off needed leadership from some Colonies in order to promote your own programs, without waiting for replacements! But then, maybe if you hadn't done it that way, you never would have gotten what you needed, since some of your leaders are so slow in replying or making decisions, and that was one good way to make sure that you got your labourers, knowing then they'd have to send replacements to help man these sorely underled Colonies that you left behind in the wake of your labour raids!

PERSONNEL MOVES AND ESTABLISHING COLONIES

33. WHILE I'M ON THE SUBJECT OF PERSONNEL SHAKEUPS, some of you are like Ezekiel and his basket of figs! You like to turn it upside down and shake it all over the country in one big upset, leaving some Colonies sorely undermanned, other overstaffed, and still others, almost leaderless! Besides, you shove some people around so fast, they don't even have time to get adjusted to their new situation and get anything accomplished before you shove them on their way again, as though the main thing is to move and keep moving bodily regardless of consequences!

34. THERE'S A TIME TO MOVE, BUT THERE'S ALSO A TIME TO STAY PUT—but if you keep moving a man around so fast you make his head swim, so he doesn't even get to know his people‚ his staff, or his Colony, and they don't even get to know him, and they don't have time to get organized, coordinated, or cooperative, so that they're so busy moving they don't have time to do anything but pack, travel‚ and unpack and pack again, so they can't get anything done!

35. I could give you some Thoughts From Chairman Mao on this subject, from one of his Five Articles, on correcting mistaken ideas in the Party, one of which was "The Ideology of Roving Rebel Bands", which has some very fitting things to say about the subject, which are badly needed right now! You may not like his lack of religion or some of his philosophies and methods‚ but any guy who can organize 800 million people must be something of an organizational genius, from whom we might learn a few practical ideas on how he did it—how he organized his revolution into a well-integrated and effective nation which now threatens the world!

36. Since I notice he didn't have his book copyrighted, which shows he was more interested in getting out the message than the money, I'm going to quote you what he had to say about these guys with a yen for the road! "The political ideology of roving rebel bands has emerged in the Red Army because the proportion of vagabond elements is large". Like Ed Plowman said in his recent article on us in Christianity Today, entitled "Where Have All The Children Gone?" we are "a growing band of far–out young Christian vagabonds" creating a "maelstrom of controversy"!

37. Well, that's fine—to some extent! But as Mao says, some people only want to be guerrillas "but are unwilling to undertake the arduous task of building up a base and establishing the people—recruiting deserters and mutineers instead of expanding the local troops...." In other words, they just want to roam the country, see the sights, live off the land, and never establish any permanent work in the hearts of men, more interested in making love and having babies than the hard work or training disciples, good soldiers, and leaders into an Army!

38. Now there's a time for guerrilla action, as we've said before, particularly when persecution and the superior forces of the Enemy drive you more or less underground—but there's also a time to establish a Colony and its babes and teach and train and make them strong when it's possible to do so! As Mao says, there's a time to "counter the vagabond outlook and draw active and militant workers into the Army" instead of just roving rebels who like to travel!

39. YOUR COLONY SHOULD TRY TO STAY PUT AS LONG AS THE LORD IS BLESSING, publishing the message, bearing fruit, and establishing the believers and providing your needs and protecting you from too much persecution! You can do this better when you're not having to move too much! A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS, BECAUSE WHEN YOU'RE BUSY TRAVELING‚ YOU HAVEN'T MUCH TIME TO STUDY, TEACH AND TRAIN, AND ESTABLISH! We didn't really start growing very much until we stopped traveling so much! It's hard for mothers to travel with babies, even most creatures that God has made have to have a little nest‚ lair, or burrow once in a while in which to safely rear their young until they're strong enough to thrust out into the world on their own.

40. THIS IS THE WHOLE IDEA OF COLONISATION, INSTEAD OF SCATTERATION—TO GIVE THE YOUNG babes the time and place to grow strong, and their leaders an opportunity to learn responsibility, before they're ready to go pioneer a new Colony somewhere else, until God lets you know through heavy and hindering persecution that it's time for you all to move and perhaps divide into two or three small Colonies instead of one big overgrown one!

THE SMALL COLONY IS THE IDEAL!

41. AS MANY TIMES AS I HAVE TOLD YOU THAT THE SMALL COLONY IS THE IDEAL— about one or two dozen in one house in one city‚ some of you are still writing me after you've got about seventy to ninety in your Colony wondering if you should divide it and reduce its size by sending some of them somewhere else! Yes‚ of course! You shouldn't even have to ask us! As soon as you have enough in your little Colony so that you can spare enough personnel from the operation of the local Colony to organize a new team to go out and start a new Colony in a new city, you should by all means do so! That's the whole idea!—Our whole method of growth and expansion!

42. THIS SHOULD BE BY THE TIME YOUR COLONY REACHES ABOUT ONE OR TWO DOZEN IN NUMBER, OR MORE! You should then begin to figure how you can divide it into two Colonies, each with capable leadership and all gifts and ministries and talents and skills represented as much as possible in each, and then send one of the groups off to a new location in a new city! This is almost exactly what is happening with our most rapidly expanding fields abroad, which is one of the major reasons for their rapid growth and expansion to the other fields!

43. WHEREAS, THE HOME COLONIES SEEM TO TEND TO GET BOGGED DOWN WITH NUMBERS INSTEAD OF DIVIDING AS THEY SHOULD AND ESTABLISHING NEW COLONIES! I'll grant you that there seem to be times when a larger Mother Colony seems to be necessary, particularly for the care of children in a school, or a major office or printing operation, or a large nursery for spiritual babes‚ when you are short of leaders and teachers and the Lord provides adequate facilities for same where you can economize on leadership by having larger classes and meetings.

44. BUT I AM STILL FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT THE SMALL INDEPENDENT COLONIES ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND THE HARDEST TO STOP! We've had some big ones that collapsed or got slowed to a standstill just by their own size and weight! I've even had certain leaders tell me they couldn't even operate their Colony without at least 200 people, to which I replied: "You wouldn't need 200 people if you didn't have 200 people there"—and that Colony is no more!

45. WHEREAS‚ SOME OF OUR SMALLEST COLONIES HAVE LASTED THE LONGEST, ACCOMPLISHED MORE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND BABE TRAINING ON A SMALL SCALE, have received less persecution and more provision and protection and some of the greatest blessing of God! We are just crazy enough to believe God's Word, that if we constantly divide and go into all the world, God will cause us to constantly survive and grow in all the world! So if your Colony is over one or two dozen, why don't you organize it into two Colonies, ask your leaders where there's an open door or another place one of them can go, or ask God for one, and half of you take off for greener pastures and new harvest fields where God will bless you for your pioneering, vision, faith, courage, and initiative! Praise God!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family