DO1820 8/84—Sorry, No Time or Money to Waste!

1. YOU CAN NEVER IMAGINE HOW SHOCKED I WAS WHEN I HEARD THAT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF WORLD SERVICES, THAT WE ARE STILL SENDING OUT PERSONAL‚ INDIVIDUAL THANK-YOU NOTES TO EVERYBODY WHO SENDS IN ANYTHING AT ALL! I really do need to be apprised of what's going on & those offices should have apprised us. I never dreamed that such a practice was still in effect, believe it or not! Well, it's out of effect now, just as quick as they get that Notice, & will be no more, that's for sure! The days of this ignorance God winked at, but now He calls us all to repent & get busy & quit fiddling around with extravagances & luxuries & wastes of time & money & everything else that we don't need to do!

2. I WANT TO STOP THIS WASTEFUL PRACTICE OF INDIVIDUAL THANK-YOU NOTES FOR EVERY SINGLE LITTLE GIFT of a dollar or two or more to everybody all over the World, even regular Tithers & Family Members. That procedure was primarily instituted first of all to recoup the Family itself from the horrors of the Chain, & also even backsliders & outsiders & encourage them to give directly to us at World Services from all over the World, to try to save the whole work.

3. DESPERATE MEASURES WERE TAKEN QUICKLY & IMMEDIATELY TO TRY TO SALVAGE THINGS THE BEST WE COULD & RESCUE OUR WHOLE OPERATION, because our income was dropping down to half of what it had been before the RNR—so we were willing to type little notes & everything for any little gift we got. We were desperate & we were thankful for every little crumb, & we still are! But then we had time! That's about all we had to do, & all we had to take care of was to try to save the work & rescue our organisation & Family & send a little note of encouragement & thanks to every single one of them that sent us a penny. But I don't think that's any longer necessary, & I think for some time it hasn't been necessary. I didn't even realise it was still going on.

4. MY LORD, I WISH YOU PEOPLE COULD CALL OUR ATTENTION TO THINGS LIKE THIS WHICH ARE WASTEFUL OLD RUTS!—Like that custom they had in the District Attorney's office I worked at in Miami of putting that code on the bottom of those summonses! I don't think the boss even knew what it was for‚ but they did it all those years in his office just because somebody had done it before! But just because somebody's been doing it & has done it before‚ for God's sake‚ doesn't mean we still have to do it now! So for the Lord's sake & His work's sake, call our attention to anything that you see that you don't understand why it's still being done or you don't think is necessary & is a waste of time! Thank God our Finance Office finally sent out a note in regard to this, & thank God it was because some of the ROs had sent in notes & suggestions & wondered why we kept doing this when it was really unnecessary.—Just because some people send maybe $108 tithe & then they just throw in an extra $2 to make it an even number, $110!

5. SO THIS URGENT NOTICE NEEDS TO GO QUICK so that hardly another day will pass‚ we hope, with those offices wasting their time sending out special thank-you notes for $2 gifts to people who are regular Tithers & supporters & hear from us constantly through the mail, our personal notes & Letters in the GNs & all the rest, & should certainly know that we are thankful & that we are getting them, or they wouldn't be getting their mailings! They don't have to be told or given any special acknowledgement of any kind‚ because we're on a system now which means if you don't send anything you don't get anything. They know what they're supposed to get for what they're supposed to give. So I certainly don't think it's necessary to send any personal thank-you notes for every little dinky gift that comes in from regular Tithers & Family Members!

6. I WOULD SAY ABOUT THE ONLY PEOPLE WE NEED TO SEND THANK–YOU NOTES TO AT ALL ARE THOSE WHO POP UP BRAND NEW ON THE MAILING LIST that we have never heard from before & who are not TRFers & not Tithers & not on the mailing list & not Family Members, but who need to be encouraged to continue giving, & to whom we will send a first copy of the LIN with a little thank-you note encouraging them to continue giving, & that if they do they'll get a copy of the LIN every month. Those are the only thank-you notes we need to send of any kind—unless WS Office has the burden to send some kind of a special thank-you to especially large donors, some perhaps not even TRFers, or if they are TRFers, if it's an unusual gift for which we should give them unusual thanks of some kind. However, I would suggest that they would probably have to be at least $1000 or more before we would consider it worth taking our time & expense & secretaries & everything else to send them special thank–you letters. (Maria: And the same goes for our personal mail?)

7. THE SAME GOES FOR THE M&M GIFTS AS WELL. The only people that I know who give M&M gifts are Family Members, TRFers, who regularly tithe & give & designate & all the rest. They surely know we get it, because they almost invariably send it with their tithe, & if we didn't get their tithe then we didn't get their gift, & they wouldn't get their mailings so they would know we didn't get it. So if the idea was merely to let them know for sure we got it safely, they know, as long as they're still getting their mailings. If their mailings should stop, then they'll know something happened to their tithe & their designated gift & all the rest. Then they can let us know & send in a special complaint that they didn't get their mailings for some reason, & we'll know something's wrong somewhere & try to find out what happened. This is what the Lost Mail Report was for etc.

8. THIS NOTICE IS GOING TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF TIME & LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS & MAYBE HELP SAVE THE WORK IF IT GETS OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! We don't want to waste another day nor another dollar of our precious time & funds getting out these stupid, idiotic, individual‚ personal thank-you letters for every little penny that comes in above somebody's tithe! That is absolutely ridiculous! It's insane!

9. EVEN FOR LARGE GIFTS, I JUST DON'T THINK IT'S NECESSARY, because most, if not all, of those gifts usually come from our regular donors, our regular TRFers, who should not expect us to waste our time to send any special thank-you. They can read it in the GN when we thank everybody for everything. They shouldn't expect us to waste our time sending them some special preferential respecter-of-persons notice that they're something special because they gave so much.

10. THE LORD GAVE GREATER PRAISE & GREATER RECOGNITION TO THE WIDOW'S TWO MITES, WHICH WAS MORE OF A SACRIFICE FOR HER, "ALL OF HER LIVING", than to all of those great gifts that the hypocritical, self-righteous Scribes & Pharisees were casting into the coffers! (Mk.12:41-44) So why should we thank anybody more for any size gift, regardless! I'm even a little dubious about sending special thank-yous to donors of big gifts of $1000 or more, when some of those little missionaries actually give more in proportion & in sacrifice a greater gift & with greater recognition in God's sight & greater reward than some people who have a lot of money & can more easily afford to give $1000 than that little missionary can afford to give $10! So why should we give any special recognition even of large extra gifts?

11. I THINK WE'RE COMPROMISING A LITTLE BIT EVEN THERE TO GIVE ANY MORE RECOGNITION OF LARGE GIFTS THAN SMALL GIFTS! How do we know how large a gift is? Maybe they just got $100,000 inheritance, so they send us $10,000, so what? God bless'm‚ thank you for it, but I wouldn't say having $90,000 left was exactly a sacrifice compared to the little missionary who gives his last $10 as a designated gift for missions or whatever‚ & has nothing left but to trust the Lord for even all his living!

12. SO WHO'S TO SAY WHO GAVE THE LARGEST GIFT & WHO WE SHOULD THANK THE MOST & give some special recognition or some special thank-you letter from World Services or us or blah blah‚ just because they gave more money in quantity or size?—It may be a lot less in God's sight! Why should we just recognise the rich who give large gifts numerically speaking, when the poor could be‚ & very likely are, giving much more sacrificially & in proportion than those who gave largely?

13. THE LORD MADE THIS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE & SAID TO BE NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS & talked about not giving the guy who comes in with a gold ring a special seat at the head of the table just because he looks like he's rich! He may not deserve it as much as the little widow or the orphan down at the other end who's forsaking all & giving all to serve the Lord. (Jam.2:1-4) So that's what this little Notice is about, more or less, & maybe this little explanation in addition will help some people understand why.

14. THAT WOULD BE A RADICAL TURN OF EVENTS! I never heard of any Gospel mail order house like ours who has refused to send out thank–yous even to large donors! That'll be a first, that's for sure! Usually they fall all over themselves‚ palavering & inviting them to come for a personal visit & wine & dine'm & give'm the red carpet treatment & everything else just because they gave a large gift. That's what they all do, every one I have ever known & worked with & heard of at all. That's the way most of them live & that's the way most of them get their funds‚ through the mail & through gifts, whether in church or in the mail or personally or whatever, & they usually just absolutely fall all over themselves to give special recognition to those who give heavily & numerically big gifts.—Whereas they may be neglecting to recognise & appreciate & thank some little widow or orphan or somebody who may not have even had anything to give but whose prayers are far more valuable than ten thousand or a hundred thousand or a million or millions!

15. THAT SITUATION ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED ME, I can't tell you how much, to hear that those offices are still sending out little thank-you letters to every Tom, Dick & Harry—& most of these Toms, Dicks & Harrys already part of the Family & already giving & tithing & getting their mail, who don't need special notices‚ at least not special individual thank-you letters for any kind of gifts, big or small! It wastes God's time & money & effort which we could be using for more profitable purposes & causes & more fruitful endeavours. Amen?

16. BUT DON'T YOU MISSIONARIES THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH NO THANK-YOUS!—You thank every single one if you want to encourage'm to keep on giving!—And you be sure you send'm at least a monthly Prayer Letter—your Pub—telling'm what you're doing with it!—If you wanna stay in biz!—The Lord's biz!—Amen?

17. GBAKY GIVING!—Whether it's your blood, sweat, tears or money!—Amen?—Which is more valuable?—Only the Lord knows!—And someday soon He's gonna give YOU your reward—maybe TODAY! GBAKYAMYAB, in Jesus' name, amen!—WLY dearly!—D.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family