Peter A.
May 7, 2003
By Peter A.CM 3382B 12/01
Our Family Pubs!
1. Aside from the GNs, you received a flood of other pubs in 2001, including 24 Grapevines, 24 Heaven's Library mags, 33 FARs, 17 FSMs‚ 12 ENDs, 12 sets of Reflections (totaling 55 pages) 11 EVEs‚ 11 Kidlands, 8 Zines, 7 Blades, 4 CLTPs, 1 LinkUP, and 26 miscellaneous pubs and notices, including the Family Board Handbook, our Statement on Terrorism‚ and the Keys promise sheets, as well as a variety of children's posters, coloring pages, and activity sheets. That comes to a total of 5,131 A5 pages for the past 12 months, or an average of 14 pages to read each day of the year!
2. Some changes in our pubs last year included saying farewell to the Zine, Blade, and the HTK as individual mags. In their place, however, we're ushering in a new mag. Read more about it further on! The Heaven's Library mags received a face-lift at their 100th issue mark, making the mags more reader-friendly and fun for the kids!
3. In connection with the Activated push worldwide, articles by you, our worldwide Family, were incorporated into a series of Special Action FSMs this year, highlighting your progress in getting activated, witnessing more deeply to your friends, starting Bible studies and Activated clubs, and putting more emphasis on follow-up as well as on pushing Activated materials. Some of these FSMs have included tips on what has worked to draw friends in closer, with testimonies of their becoming disciples in spirit and now being Active members. A special Christmas edition featured ready-made material for Activated Christmas get–togethers‚ Church of Love meetings, etc.
4. There have been 13 of these Special Action FSMs so far, with articles from (in order of appearance) Mexico, Brazil, the US, Canada, Bulgaria, Romania‚ Sierra Leone, India‚ Zimbabwe, South Africa, Madagascar, China, Croatia, Senegal, the Philippines, Norway, Albania, Thailand, Chile, Russia, Colombia, Japan, Yugoslavia‚ Namibia‚ Moldova‚ Italy‚ Taiwan, and more! And in your testimonies we see how the Lord is expanding our Family, as He promised He would! Many thanks to all of you who have so faithfully written your tips and testimonies—they're inspiring!
Conception of Xn
By the Xn team
5. A new magazine was conceived last year—Xn! The first issue was sent to you in January, and hopefully you've received it by now. If not, you will soon! Its goal is to provide an illustrated, Word-based, revolutionary read for all young disciples at heart! In it you'll find elements of Blade, LinkUP, the FreeZine, HTKs, and some columns that are totally new.
6. This mag is the first of its kind in the sense that there are a number of contributing editors‚ artists, and layout people involved—as in over 10‚ or two FGAs and eight young people—meaning that a lot of hands are taking part in "that banana there." We hope to get a lot of art in there too, mostly from our young and upcoming artists, with the help of some of our veterans. So we hope you'll like it!
ComicTRAX
By Kayla
7. A new line of illustrated tracts, the ComicTRAX, was born in the beginning of 2001. To date, a total of eight ComicTRAX have been produced. These are:
What Some People Get High On
You Can't Make It WithoutÂ…
Afraid of Being Left Behind?
Valentine's Day Blues
The Wish List
A True Life Story of an Art Freak
One Special Gift
The Home of Your Heart
8. And there are more in the works! Thanks to those of you who have sent in suggestions of topics that future ComicTRAX can cover. Many thanks also to the artists who have illustrated the ComicTRAX so far: David Komic, Kristen, Anthony, and Shae.
9. We want to give special thanks to our field artists, David Komic (in Thailand) and Anthony (in South Africa), who are contributing their time and energy and skills to the ComicTRAX project while still keeping up with the demands of a regular field Home. If you like the ComicTRAX and look forward to seeing more on a variety of topics, please do support these two faithful missionary veterans however you can, so they can continue using their unique talents to benefit you!
HTKs‚ MLKs, and Other Kiddo Pubs
By the HTK and MLK team
10. On the HTK front, you received 152 pages of HTKs‚ up from 136 pages in 2000—a 12% increase! HTK #106/107 was the last HTK you'll receive as its own mag. The HTK concept—highly illustrated Word for JETTs and teens—will still be in production, but will now appear in the new Xn mag!
11. The production of MLKs also increased this year, jumping from 186 pages printed in 2000 to 244 pages in 2001. That's a more than 30% increase in Word in this form for your younger ones! You also received the book Mama's Childhood Memories, which we hope the kids are enjoying.
12. It's been a year of climbing and progressing in the production of the MLKs—the New Wine for our children. We used to take the GN texts and edit them for the kids. However, the Lord has now shown us to ask Him to regive the majority of the GN texts, aimed right at the MLK audience. That means we ask the Lord what is needed for the kids, what age group to aim for, and then He gives the text in prophecy—the same general messages contained in the GNs that are age-appropriate for our kids, but expressed directly to the kids. It's streamlined the flow of the MLK texts incredibly. It's a fulfillment of the verse, "Your children shall be taught of the Lord." We're now letting the Lord and His helpers in the spirit world do the teaching more directly. We pray this is a blessing and increases the effectiveness of the MLKs.
13. We want to welcome SGA Agnes as a new MLK artist. She's been a terrific addition to our team. Soon you'll be seeing MLKs illustrated by SGA Shae, who is another boost to our MLK team.
14. Kidz Biz is now a regular monthly pub for the kids. If you haven't been looking at Kidz Biz, please do so. It will inspire you to see the up-and–coming younger generation, and their love for the Lord and conviction to follow closely! Kidz Biz is full of witnessing testimonies, Word applications, and prophecies the kids have received.
MB2K and Memory Book Cards
15. One other very useful pub is the Memory Book Cards, which consist of the memory verses from the MB2K book (new Memory Book), which is now printed and will be shipped to all Homes. Keep an eye out for them! These Memory Book Cards are terrific both for review and for claiming verses during prayer vigil times.
Our Wonderful Artists
16. God bless our in–house and field artists, whose inspired artwork illustrates and livens up many of our pubs, including the GNs‚ Blade‚ Heaven's Library books and mags, Grapevine, MLK, HTK, Reflections, ComicTRAX—and Xn soon to come. With an increased focus on distribution tools and pubs for the GP, a number of our artists have contributed to GP artwork this past year, such as the Activated mags' covers/inside pictures, the variety of CD cards, etc. And in the GP arena, that includes not only the art itself, but also coloring all the pictures that appear in each production; for example, the Stories to Grow By series‚ Feed My Lambs‚ Start Early posters, etc.
17. Our in-house and full- or part-time contributing artists produced a total of 1,395 pictures this past year. Our field artists—of whom there are 20 who are currently contributing to Family pubs (10 young people and 10 FGAs)—produced 160 pictures this past year, a majority of which were for Blade! Keep them coming! We appreciate your help and couldn't do without you.
FAR Plug
18. The FAR (Family Activity Report) is an important pub which presents the face of the Family, showing the wonderful work that Family members do throughout the world. It publicizes the work that you are doing. Your work can be highlighted and read by thousands if you simply send your article in. It doesn't have to be long, fancy or erudite! Just send in the details (the more the better) of your ministry and good quality photos (scanned at 300 DPI), along with your e-mail address so we can contact you for more information if needed. Don't delay! There are a lot of exciting ministries and testimonies that aren't published in the FAR because we don't receive articles about them, and it's a shame not to be able to broadcast that good news to the world! So send those stories in!
[Note: If you have a digital camera and want to send in photos, they should be a resolution of at least 640x480 pixels. Higher is better, but this resolution is sufficient.]
Basic Info
19. Take advantage of this ready-made PR and witnessing tool by simply sending in your material. We'll do the rest.
20. Has your Home or work been in a FAR lately?
2001 Homegoings
21. This past year there were eight CM/FM Homegoings, along with seven former member Homegoings that we know of. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of you who have seen a family member or loved one graduate to Jesus' arms, as we know it can be accompanied by deep feelings of sadness and loss. We're so thankful for the gift of prophecy and the ever-present reassurance available from our sweet Husband during such difficult times. We admire each of you who have gone through this transition period and are continuing on for the Lord, trusting in His promises and looking toward Heaven when we'll all be reunited.
2001 FAF Summary
22. The Family Aid Fund has had another successful year‚ thanks to the Lord and our wonderful CM Family! For the year 2001‚ the FAF gave out 67 HERs to new Homes, 108 Pioneer gifts, 152 Home Loans‚ 268 Tool Fund gifts, 64 Reimbursements to Homes for legitimate expenses, 179 Baby Bonuses, 8 Pass-on gifts, and 59 Other gifts to needy situations, for a total of 905 gifts.
23. To date, after six and a–half years‚ the FAF has handed out:
41,018 HERs to new Homes
41,245 Pioneer gifts
41,383 Home Loans
43,373 Tool Fund gifts
4443 Reimbursements of legitimate
expenses incurred by Homes
41,584 Baby Bonuses
4 20 Pass-on gifts
4165 Other gifts to needy situations
9,231 Total gifts!
24. On a monthly basis throughout the FAF's existence, that averages out to:
413 HERs to new Homes per month
416 Pioneer gifts
418 Home Loans
443 Tool Fund gifts
46 Reimbursements
420 Baby Bonuses
42 Other gifts to needy situations
118 gifts a month for the last
78 months!
25. Remember, besides the CM Homes' 1% tithe to the FAF, WS contributes 10% of ALL of its income, from both the CM and FM Homes' tithes. Plus, WS tithes 10% on any special offerings or windfalls to WS. In addition, a very large portion of outgoing gifts from the FAF are recycled back into the FAF and counted as income again, and reused again for further gifts. For example, when a Home closes or a Home goes FM‚ they return their HER to the FAF and it is counted as income to the FAF that month and is available to go out to other Homes.
26. This happens on a monthly basis; that is‚ receiving returned HERs back into the FAF, which are then recycled and sent out again. The same thing for Home Loans: As loans are paid off monthly, the repayments count as more income to the FAF, and this same money goes out again for new loans. As you can see from the pie graph, Home Loans are the largest part of the FAF program‚ and the funds that are constantly going out in loans are also constantly coming back in. And lastly, the FAF also receives special offerings occasionally, from Homes above their 1% tithe.
27. This is one reason the FAF has been able to hand out such a large amount of gifts, because not only is WS tithing 10% of all its income, including windfalls, and the CM Homes 1% of their income, but also large amounts of funds given out as gifts or loans come back into the FAF and are given out again.
28. The Home Loan part of the FAF is a very successful venture, because you Homes are so very faithful to pay off your interest–free loans at a rate of 10% a month. Thank you very much for your faithfulness in this. We're glad that you were able to benefit from this loan program, and we have had very few "bad debts," so to speak.
29. Thank you very much for your tithes to the FAF. It is very much appreciated and used by virtually every CM Home in the Family in one way or another. We pray it continues to be a blessing to you.
2001 WS Financial Summary
30. In the year 2001‚ WS used virtually every penny that came in. In fact, due to the worsening worldwide economy, WS gave out more than it received during the year‚ and thus dipped into its reserve funds in order to manage these gifts and budgets.
31. You may or may not know this, but in March 2001 every monthly WS budget and gift was cut 10% across the board, including WS units, NPCs, LIMs, Lit-Pics, CO Offices, and Missions gifts. During the year a few of the essential services like NPCs had to have their regular budgets reinstated‚ but by far the majority of budget cuts remained intact and have now virtually become the new reduced budgets and gifts that are given out monthly. What this means is that WS income was 10% lower than last year‚ and because WS cut most of the budgets by 10%, it meant that the overall WS expenses were 8% lower than the previous year. But still, it was necessary to dip into reserves to keep the ship afloat.
32. Now with the upcoming board structure which, God willing, will be up and running in the first part of 2002, this will cause a further financial challenge in the amount of WS funds needed. However, we believe that if we do the "wenting," our Husband will come through. Like "God's Guarantees" explains‚ we do not make our business decisions based on what is the most financially lucrative; rather, we make our decisions based on what our Husband tells us is His will. He has always been faithful to put the ground under our feet as we follow Him, and we're sure He'll do it again with the financial needs of the board structure.
Home Giving to Mission Fields
33. In 2001, Family Homes gave approximately $483,404 to other Homes and mission fields via their TRFs, which is an average of about $40,000 a month. The Lord and we are very proud of you Homes for giving so much. God bless all of you who give of your abundance, as well as of your living, in order to satisfy the needs of others. This is the Law of Love in action!
34. Here is a breakdown by area of how much the Homes gave to other Homes:
|
2001 Designated Gifts in US$ |
|||||
|
NACRO |
SACRO |
EURCRO |
ASCRO |
PACRO |
TOTAL |
|
101,123 |
12,663 |
140,606 |
33,754 |
195‚258 |
483,404 |
35. As you can see, PACRO is our shiner area in giving to their sister Homes around the world. God bless all of you who give, and we're sure He does. "Give, and it shall be given unto you."
Special Offerings to WS
36. We want to thank you, dear Family, for each and every one of your offerings to WS above your tithe. Included in Grapevine #126 is a complete listing of all those who gave individual offerings above your tithe last year through November of 2001. As you'll see, we have many "repeat blessers," those who gave extra to WS many times throughout the year. Thank you SO much for your offerings! We need them. And we pray that the Lord returns these blessings to you in many, many ways over and over.
37. Actually, the total amount of special offerings to WS has dropped drastically over the last few years. We realize there have been stringent economic conditions and many other reasons. However, if a windfall comes your way, please pray about giving a large portion to WS to help support the board structure and other important services which we want to continue to give, but may have to cut back if more finances don't come in.
38. Thanks to a special offering from one Home, we are in the process of printing the new Memory Book, and D.V. soon MLK Book 2‚ and HOPE TK Book 2. However, we still have sitting on the shelf the following: MLK Book 3, HOPE TK Book 3‚ Techi Book, Daily Bread 13‚ and Lifelines 25. And Daily Bread 14 and Daily Bread 15 are in the works. So thank you so very much for anything you can give, whether large or small. We need any and all gifts‚ and the Lord will bless your giving. Thank you!
WS' Major Investments
39. To give you an overview of what WS uses its money for, here is a list of our major investments:
40. Missions: Giving to missions tops the list as it did last year, with 42% of all money spent by WS going to support the work on the mission fields, including gifts to missionaries and mission projects.
41. WS Publications: Comes in a close second at 40% of all WS spending. This includes support and productions of WS units, the foreign language translation units (LIMs), and the NPCs and printing units. They all do a phenomenal job‚ as you well know and as you'll read in this GN.
42. Administration: Administration comes in at a far third at 11%. This includes the WS administration team as well as the Continental Offices that process your TRFs and stats and do a multitude of behind-the-scenes jobs that keep the Family organization on track.
43. Activated: The Activated ministry was next, at 5% of total WS spending. This includes subsidies to all eight Activated desks around the world, and Activated related costs. We would eventually like the Activated desks to become self–supporting through subscriptions, but up to this point and for the last three years they have needed help from WS to stay afloat. We're glad to give them this help, but we expect all of them to be on their own before too long as the Activated ministry explodes!
44. Audio/Visual: Comes in last, but still a very important ministry at 2%. We're sure there are thousands of people in the Family who are very, very thankful for the Family music. WS subsidizes many Family studios around the world so that the musicians can devote their time to giving you the best products they can.
Missionary Giving and Grants
45. This year 42% of all WS expenditures went directly to missionary giving in the form of WS' contribution to the Family Aid Fund, gifts to local language studios and Lit-Pics, mail ministries‚ field administration‚ and a multitude of Homes and missionaries on fields such as Eastern Europe, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Mideast. This missionary giving spanned countries such as Russia (including Siberia), the CIS countries of the former Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bosnia‚ Bulgaria, Kosovo, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina and the Mideast, not to mention other sensitive fields which we can't list here.
46. WS started a new financial policy at the end of 2001, and we now require all present Mission Gift recipients to send in a progress report for the previous 12 months, as well as a list of their goals for the new year and a grant request for the upcoming year. Over 75 reports were sent in this year, totaling nearly 200 pages of inspired reporting! What you all are doing on the mission field is tremendous! We in WS reading these reports are awed at the great work that you‚ our frontline missionaries, are doing, and we truly feel what Dad has always said—that the missionaries are tops on God's list. Our hats are off to you!
47. Almost every Family member is doing a wonderful work for the Lord, and we would love to be able to give a gift to every Home. However, our finances are limited. We only have a certain amount of money available for Mission Gifts, and we very prayerfully seek the Lord about which Homes and ministries to give these gifts to. We make our decisions based on the fruitfulness of the ministry‚ the availability or lack of local support that can be generated, the need of the field to receive the message, and the Lord's direction and confirmation in prophecy.
48. Here are some sample grant requests to show you the kind of work these gifts—which come from your tithes—are supporting:
49. We live in a very remote area; nevertheless, we're using this as a platform to reach the people of Northern China and Eastern Siberia‚ a territory as large as all of Europe put together! We have ongoing projects of bringing the Gospel to these regions, and if we don't remain here, no one will do it, as there are no other Homes in the area, or Family members able to reach these areas from their Homes.
50. All our Home's activities only involve pure witnessing and the spreading of Gospel literature—nothing else.
51. We have no way to provision anything or fundraise in any of these regions, all of them being as sensitive as Russia and China. We're struggling to work in strong anti-Christian societies, in physical conditions that are very extreme. It is winter for over six months of the year, most of it being -30 to -40°.
52. We have to travel great distances in our work, literally thousands and thousands of kilometers, and find funding for our travels through our friends. None of us are local to this place, so we cannot rely on free housing or any government benefits. Prices for food‚ housing, utilities‚ and transport have all been going up last year and continue to, whereas the dollar rate and WS gift remains the same or is decreasing. Our only support is WS' gift and whatever gifts our personal friends from the Family on other fields send us. All of us being nationals, we have no way to go to any Western or affluent country to raise funds for ourselves. All of our relatives are poor folks that we even have to help.
53. During the last year and winter we've sacrificed all fellowship with other Family members, and have put on the altar of our ministry even our needs for proper food, clothing, and health care that we couldn't afford. (Thank you very much, Mama and Peter, for your generous gift—it really saved us this time. We wouldn't have made it without this.)
54. We have many witnessing opportunities coming our way. We've just been given the free use of 7,000 full modern Chinese Bibles, and are bringing 40,000 tracts of Russian lit for distribution.
55. Please help us to remain here and continue our work. It would be easy for us to quit and return to the fields where we came from; there are many Homes that we love and would be thrilled to live in‚ with great fellowship, a nice lifestyle, and a mild climate. But we would like to remain here and continue to spread the Gospel as long as the Lord will have us. Our WS gift is our only sure means of support. Without it, we'd be forced to engage in System work to earn funds‚ or close our Home down.
*
56. We are in the Far East of Russia, a city with a population of nearly one million. Our Home has been open since April 1992. We're presently six adults and three children. During these nine years, 22 people have joined the Family full-time. Last year we won three new disciples; this year two. Most of the disciples who have joined have gone to other parts of Russia, and a few to other countries.
57. In spite of persecution in our city and moving to a higher level of security, this last year the Lord helped us to:
·win two disciples
·win 850 souls
·distribute 190,000 pages of literature, in spite of the field tightening
·go on five road trips
·hold regular live-out, potential sheep, and parents meetings
·hold a weeklong seminar for the sheep in March
·record and produce a local tape with songs the Lord gave our musicians
·feed our 80 mail ministry members by sending out about 1,000 letters this year
·lay out and print six publications with follow-up lit (1,800 copies altogether)
*
58. Our main work has been building our National Church, doing follow-up, giving Bible classes‚ and keeping up with our mail ministry. Right now we have two catacombers—a couple with three kids. They are the main bellwethers of our National Church. We have five live–outs who regularly come to Bible classes‚ witness, and tithe to the Home. We have 14 DF/Follow-up members‚ three of whom are witnessing.
59. When the Activated vision first came out, we were a little disappointed that we didn't have it in our country. When we prayed and heard from the Lord about how we could apply it to our situation, the Lord showed us that we could have a local Activated ministry. We decided to collect addresses from the people we are witnessing to, and we send them the follow-up lit we have in their language. We have 18 mail ministry members that we keep in contact with regularly. Two of our live-outs and six of our DF/FU members are the result of the mail ministry!
60. An important part of our work is road trips, shows, and witnessing in hospitals. We are trying to involve our sheep in this as well. Due to the very cold weather here, we use every opportunity during the summer to go on road trips, to witness and follow up on our mail ministry members. During the winter we concentrate on doing shows in the children's hospitals‚ and witnessing to the adults in the hospitals. One of the patients who we witnessed to and followed up on later came over and brought his friend with him to receive a Bible class. So this ministry is starting to bear fruit.
61. Soon we are going to have big changes in our team: A couple with kids and a single girl are leaving our Home. The rest of our team that will remain is going to be all nationals: two single girls‚ two single moms, and two kids. As you know, it's very difficult to fundraise in Russia, so we even considered closing the Home, because with these people leaving, half of our budget goes as well. But when we prayed‚ the Lord said that the work here is not finished yet. He showed us that we need to make a push in training and preparing all our friends and sheep to become a strong National Church, so that when we do leave they will be able to carry on the work.
62. Our plans for this time till we close the Home are to invest as much as we can. This means we'll concentrate on:
·Feeding our sheep the Word through Bible classes at least twice a week
·Giving our sheep individual attention and shepherding by visiting and feeding them at their homes as often as they would like
·Encouraging and training them to witness
·Passing on to them the witnessing ministry in the hospitals
·Passing on to them the mail ministry
·Passing on to them the ministry of shows‚ as some of them are professional musicians
·Giving them all the vision to tithe
63. Our main goal is to teach them to work together so that when we leave they'll be able to operate by themselves. The Lord has confirmed that we need to stay here to finish this job. And to accomplish this, we greatly depend on the WS gift.
*
64. The monthly gifts from WS have been a major blessing, as much of what has happened in this predominantly Buddhist SEA pioneer work in the last few years would not have been possible without these gifts.
65. Our Home houses the Lit-Pic, and during the past year, we translated:
·The first 13 Activated mags (minus number 12).
·Dare To Be Different
·Feed My Lambs #1-8
·12 video songbooks (TA 1, 3-13)
·Discovering Truth—Bible Basics (Translated and printed by a pastor we know, this book is distributed countrywide in the Christian circles.)
66. Activated mini-desk: In May, we organized a local Activated mini-desk with the help of the Homes' most active Bible students. Since then, close to 4,000 Activated mags have been distributed. Subscriptions have been offered personally and by mail to over 1,000 people, and the first 60 subscriptions have now come in. Many more subscriptions should come from the mail, but we'll have to wait to see the results of the large mailing we sent.
67. Mass marketing: Our videos, tapes and books are being mass distributed countrywide. Over 2‚000 videos and tapes and over 3,000 books have already been distributed.
68. Just a few of our goals for the Lit-Pic work in 2002 include:
·Activated mags: To translate all the subsequent issues, while majoring on the latest mag, following the Activated program.
·Get Activated books and Heaven's Library books for mass distribution: The idea is to get one book done each month and into print. (The books for mass marketing will take more work, as we will have to find someone to do an introduction, and most of all we'll have to get the approval of the censorship board. This takes between four to six months. We hope to present two books at a time‚ as this speeds things up.)
·Produce two new tapes (one for children‚ one for adults).
·Subtitling the 12 TA videos in English that have been approved for distribution.
*
69. (From a Home in the Middle East:) Some of our projects in the last year were: to prepare four more Heavenly Streams books for the field. We have worked hard to get Mottos for Success ready, and this will go to press soon. We are translating and preparing the Muslim Activated magazine (locally called Motivated) into Arabic. We have the first one ready to print. We also have an END type of magazine (featuring edited articles from the END) that we want to distribute on a DFO basis every month or every other month, plus translate and produce Reflections for the Homes regularly to feed their sheep. One volume has been printed and the second one is translated.
70. In the audio/video department, we have six TAs now in our language, and have appointments to promote these shows on TV. We also hope to put out a CD of music that we feel will be a big blessing for our field.
71. Since we only have a few small Homes here, and since our overall outreach is rather slow compared to other more "open fields‚" it has been a blessing to have the WS gift every month to help with the PPC productions, as we depend on outside translators for all our initial work, which we would not be able to do without a monthly gift.
*
72. These are just a very small sampling of some of the types of works WS is financing. There are hundreds of pages of similar testimonies and reports, but we felt this would at least give you a little taste.
73. WS' missions giving, of course, is just a part, albeit a large part‚ of WS financing. As you see from the pie graph, WS has a major stake in subsidizing the Activated desks‚ not to mention the creation, translation, printing and shipping of the Words that work to all of you Homes.
74. Thank you so much for your tithes and offerings, which has helped there to be "meat in My house," and to make it possible for our great worldwide work to progress and flourish, as we follow our Husband and Supplier into the Endtime.
Family Administration Department Stats
75. It was a busy year for the Family Administration Department. In addition to the administration team's involvement in Summit 2001, formulating the board vision, keeping up with Charter/Family policy changes, and keeping abreast of the progress and news in each area via the CO and other reports‚ here are a few tidbits and stats from the Administration Department:
·Approximately 7‚035 messages were received, processed and sent out by the Administration Department.
·Nine inter-leadership bulletins were circulated, in which, among other things‚ there were discussions on 46 different policy/Charter–related topics.
·Andrew (formerly CO of NACRO) joined the Folks' Home and is now helping in the Administration Department.
·Members of the administration team accompanied Peter on a trip to EURCRO and were able to meet on Family Missions Foundation matters, and with the Aurora team.
Summit 2001
76. Summit 2001 was held in Thailand. What made this summit unique is that, as you know, Mama attended! A first!
77. As with all summits, a number of Family policy and Charter issues were discussed and prayed about, and various amendments were agreed upon. Throughout the year these issues have been fine–tuned and further worked on by the administration team and the COs. Resultant amendments will be reaching you in 2002.
Board Vision Launch
78. At the summit‚ the COs and Family administration also discussed, prayed about and fine-tuned the details of the board vision, set to go into effect in 2002.
79. The next few months after returning from the summit were spent on fine-tuning and "tweaking" the details of the board structure, and putting this into GN format, as well as the instructional "Board Handbook," all of which reached the field in September.
80. When first explaining the board vision to the Family it was scheduled to go into effect at the end of 2001. However, with the "Conviction vs. Compromise" series reaching the field in October and November, and the fast day in November, the Lord led to postpone the implementation of the board vision, in order to give the Family time to absorb this counsel from the Lord. So the boards will now go into effect, with the national boards having their first official board meetings within the month of March, as close to March 1 as possible.
Mexico/Central America
Now Part of SACRO
81. Another big change this year is that Mexico and Central America are now a part of the SACRO continental area! Following are excerpts of a letter I wrote to the Mexico/Central America Family, explaining this change.
82. (Excerpts of letter from Peter to Mexico/Central America:) Over the past several years, we have prayed about and counseled with the NACRO and SACRO COs about which continental area Mexico and Central America should be attached to‚ whether it is more effective for these countries to be part of NACRO or SACRO. There are pros and cons and many sides to consider‚ geographical considerations, language, customs, mail and business ties, available leadership and personnel, etc. In fact, over the years, these countries have actually been under the oversight of both areas at different times. All of the Americas, both North and South, have at times reported to one office. Other times it was divided up. Sometimes shepherds usually involved with South America have been involved with the North American work. Other times shepherds from other continental areas have been involved with the South American work. Over the years the two continents have progressively been blended together as one Family with a common vision and goal to do the very best that you possibly can for our Husband.
83. At this time, through much prayer and counsel with the COs involved‚ we have reached the conclusion that it will be more effective for the Mexican and Central American boards to fall under the SACRO Continental Council. In many ways, the actual board structure of Mexico and Central America will not change so very much. But there are a number of benefits that come with this change, such as more personnel available‚ Spanish-language translations and productions more intertwined, Spanish music, FED productions, church growth and outreach tools, parenting materials, more efficient communications all in Spanish, just to name a few, that will result from this changeover. We believe you all saw a glimpse of these benefits during the Conéctate seminars held throughout Mexico last year, and we see great progress on the horizon in many areas as Mexico and Central America work in closer unity and communication with the rest of the Latin work.
84. Miguel (NACRO CO), currently living in Mexico, will remain and become part of the SACRO teamwork. Pedro, one of the COs from South America will, D.V., shortly be moving to Mexico and will become more involved with the Mexican and Central American work.
85. We want to thank the NACRO leadership, as we're sure you will too, and commend them for the faithful job they have done for many years‚ shepherding and overseeing the Mexico/Central America Homes. The work has made many strides forward over the years, and we know your leadership has been instrumental in the victories and progress that has been made. (End of excerpts of Peter's letter to the Mexico/Central America Family.)
Updated CO Listing
86. There have been some changes in the CO teamworks this last year. While there will very likely be more changes with the implementation of the boards, following is a list of our present COs, grouped alphabetically by area.
ASCRO
Adam, Ariane (SGA), Cephas, Emmy (SGA)‚ Joan‚ Mark (SGA), Steven
EURCRO
Dawn‚ Gallio, Joy (SGA), Lisa, Magda, Naomi (SGA), Oli (SGA), Stephen (SGA)
NACRO
Abi, Ado, Ginny, Philip and Harmony (SGAs), Simon, Tom (Abner)
PACRO
Jeff, Phoenix, Rachel, Stephen‚ Sweetie
SACRO
Carmen (SGA), Juan, Leila (SGA), Mark, Miguel (SGA)‚ Pedro, Sam (SGA) [Note: Margie and Jerry are moving to Mexico, and Margie will soon join the SACRO CO teamwork there.]
What Happened on the Web Fronts?
By the WS Web team
87. This year we focused on expanding our existing Web sites, as well as the production of a new Activated Web site, which is still in the works. A lot of new Word was added to the GP sites, as well as several new and useful sections to the MO site. This year also saw the increase of mailings being sent by encrypted e-mail, including the GNs, which we hope was a big help for you. We were also able to hold some training seminars with representatives from other large Family Web sites, helping them get their work established and integrated with our Web sites. (We currently host 22 other sites for various Family projects worldwide.)
88. Here is a site-by-site analysis of some of the progress that has been made this past year:
GP Family: http://www.thefamily.org
89. This site was greatly expanded this year with new Word, music, more Activated books, worldwide news, and the END news. Our e-mail subscribers who receive daily and/or weekly e-mails from us increased considerably from last year. This site has continued to be a great PR/witnessing tool with various academics, former Family members, and casual Web users getting in contact with us for the first time, or renewing contact via our Web site.
Stats:
Total visits: 308,967
Total page views: 782,801
Average visits daily: 845
Average visitor session: 15 minutes
Total downloaded: 54.6 GB
Total people subscribed to e-mail from our site: 376
Total e-mails sent: 102,307
Views to the salvation prayer page (featured in 14 different languages): 1‚478‚ and 653 people clicked the "I prayed this prayer" button
The top two downloads are: MP3s (39,622) and MO Letters (39,200)
Site updated (approximately): 300 times
90. PS: We'd like to once again give a special thanks to Linda, Cassie, and the U.S. Activated desk, who faithfully respond to and follow up on all the GP e-mail that the GP Web site receives. We love you, appreciate you, and certainly couldn't do without you!
Members Only: http://www.familymembers.com
91. A tremendous amount of progress was made on the MO site this year. We currently have 1,013 users, up from 639 last year. Presently on the site there are 3,577 pubs, 2,791 MP3s‚ and 6,414 photos—and more are added daily. Following are a few highlights of some of the advancements made on the MO site this past year:
·GNs online!
·FED section completely restructured and greatly expanded.
·Classifieds section went up. There's a lot of interesting stuff to check out!
·Other new sections: Links, Recipes, This'n'That‚ Pubs overflow‚ Daily News clips, Special Interest, etc.
92. With the GNs now available online, we had to integrate the added step of PGP encryption to our pubs mailing. Thank you all for being so willing to learn how to use PGP and helping us take that step. It hasn't always been easy to figure out and has generated a lot of correspondence between us on the Web team and Family members at large. We estimate that we've answered nearly 5‚000 e-mails concerning PGP, site access, tech support, and other various questions. That's an average of 416 a month, or about 14 a day.
Stats:
Total visits: 368,012
Average visits daily: 1,033
Total page views: 996‚141
Total downloaded: 234 GB
Total pubs downloaded (not including GNs or other pubs that are e–mailed): 247,111
Total e-mails sent: 13,863
Total daily news e-mails sent: 5,571
Total people subscribed to receive pubs by e-mail: 332
Total people subscribed to receive the daily news by e-mail: 122
Total GNs e-mailed: 11,394
Total MP3s downloaded: 198,194
Site updated (approximately): 400 times
93. Last but not least, we'd like to thank all of you who have contributed to the site in one way or another; it is MUCH appreciated. Please do keep your contributions coming! And if you haven't yet accessed the site, don't wait another minute! Send your CO Office the following information and become a MO site member:
·your Home number
·the password of your choice (minimum 8 characters, no more than 15, please)
·your e-mail address
·your PGP public key
94. Once the Continental Office has received and verified your information, they will forward it to us and we will then activate your Home's MO site account. If you have additional questions, please feel free to write us at: web@wsfamily.com.
Activated: (coming soon!)
95. Our goal with the soon-coming completely revamped Activated site is to support the Activated explosion that is happening and will be happening more and more worldwide. We intend for it to be a powerful witnessing and follow-up tool with lots and lots of Word for your sheep, and a means by which we can get people interested in the Activated magazine. We hope to also accumulate our own "online Activated flock" by means of offering the Activated Basic Course online for those who are interested. This site has lots of potential, but is also a lot of work. Pray that we'll be able to get this site launched‚ along with all the other sites we have to take care of and maintain.
Aurora Production: http://www.auroraproduction.com
96. We have kept this site current as new GP tools are released, including the Start Early series, Stories to Grow By, CD cards, and more. We also made changes in the back-end of this site to make it easier for it to be translated and converted for other language areas. These sites are being taken care of by local areas and should be coming soon‚ Lord willing.
Other Family Web Sites
97. Below is a listing of some of the other main Family Web sites, which also continue to get out the message en masse! God bless all of you who work hard to maintain these sites and to answer the hundreds of sheep who write in wanting more information about the Family. (The country listed is the hosting country of each respective site.)
THAILAND – http://www.countdown.org
Total visits: 567,832
Total transferred (includes HTML and images): 161 GB
CHILE – http://www.lafamilia.org
Total visits: 65,995
Total page views: 197,166
Average visits daily: 180
Total downloaded: 8.6 GB
Total people subscribed to e-mail from site: 620
Total e-mails sent: 163‚111
Views to the salvation prayer page: 1096‚ and 400 people clicked the "I prayed this prayer" button
BRAZIL – http://www.afamilia.org
(Note: These stats are only for the four-month period of site existence.)
Total visits: 12,000
Total page views: 315,349
Average visits daily: 100
Average visitor session: 8.58 minutes
Total downloaded: 2.9 GB
Total people subscribed to e-mail from site: 200
Total e-mails sent: 18‚982
Salvation prayer page: 60 people clicked the "I prayed this prayer" button
JAPAN – http://www.family.gr.jp
Distinct visits: 368‚312
Average visits daily: 1,009
Total page views: 1,850,000
Total downloaded: 133 GB
Highlight: Six nationwide magazines introduced our Web site in 2001 (total circulation: 870,000). Five of these magazines introduced the Christmas section of our Web site, called Christmas Love. This section is becoming one of the most popular Christmas sites in Japan. Because of this, in December 2000 alone we received 138,900 distinct visits (which is included in the year 2001 stats above), or approximately 5‚000 daily until Christmas!
U.S.A. http://www.thefamily-chinese.org
Total visits: 160,500
Distinct visits: 14,796
Total downloaded: 1.29 GB
http://www.techXcellence.NET
(Note: A CM/FM site for information on technology and the digital age! Forums, downloads, tidbits, and even some jokes to brighten those computer–troubled days!)
Total visits: 4,701
Total page views: 16,194
Total downloaded: 138 MB
Total site members: 37
THAILAND – www.thaifamily.org
Total visits: 94,728
Total downloaded: 48 GB
THAILAND – www.jonasanderson.com
(Jonas Anderson/Christy Gibson Web site)
Total visits: 12,620
Distinct visits: 8,317
Total downloaded: 6 GB
THAILAND – www.jeremyspencer.com
Total visits: 104,448
Distinct visits: 49,395
Total downloaded: 193 GB
Growth of the Wine Press Ministry
By Cassie, USA
98. At the beginning of the year, we made a list of "impossible things" that we wanted to ask the Lord to do for us and for our ministry, and one goal was to double the number of people receiving the Wine Press by the end of the year—and we are near to achieving that goal by year's end.
99. The Wine Press is a monthly magazine for favorable former members and Active members, containing a variety of material, including DFO versions of new Letters. Besides our Wine Pressers in the US and Canada‚ the Family in Europe sends out monthly Wine Press mailings to former members and Active members there‚ and the DFO Letters are translated into Portuguese and Spanish for the Live-outs in Latin America. We've been encouraging our Wine Pressers to witness by making the "Mag of the Month" program available to them, and some of them have now started ordering the Activated magazines to use in their outreach and witnessing. If you would like someone you know to receive the Wine Press, please send their name and address to: family@thefamily.org
Manning the GP E-mail/Web Ministry
By Cassie, USA
100. The GP Family Web site receives an average of 300 e-mail messages per month from people around the world who have visited our site, are interested in more information, and often want to get in touch with a Family Home nearby. All of the messages that come in to the Family box receive a personal reply, and we also do our best to put them in touch with local Family for further follow-up.
101. Recently our office team took on answering the e-mail that comes in to the www.countdown.org Web site as well. We also send out an online e-mail newsletter, PowerLinks, to over 2,000 e–mail addresses. PowerLinks is now translated into Spanish and sent to all those who write in to the lafamily.org Web site as well. After the Sept. 11 attack on the US we started sending out PowerLinks once a week, changing the format of the newsletter to a more feeding online Bible study. If your Home would like to be added to the PowerLinks mailing list‚ please send your email address to: family@thefamily.org
New Web sites
102. This year we've also set up a couple of new Web sites to help sell some of our Family tools—GreetingCardCDs.com to sell the beautiful CD cards, and TheEndtime.com to offer the two Endtime videos, Countdown to Armageddon and Beyond Armageddon.
Field missionary support
103. Over the course of the year, we were able to pass on over $30‚000 in support to a number of field projects in Africa, China, Latin America‚ the Mideast and Mexico. We were also able to donate over $15,000 worth of goods and materials to missionaries and local charities. Our two Activated Homes that co-op to staff this ministry are also actively engaged in various forms of fundraising to both raise our Home and operating budgets, as well as to subsidize the price of our Activated tools in order to make them available to Family missionaries for as low a price as possible.
Continued in GN 980
(End of file.)