Gen.4:1—"He knew her ... & she bare a child"!7 March 1979DFO 773

—DAD'S DIGEST OF OUR WORLD STATS FOR DECEMBER 1978, THE END OF OUR 11TH YEAR!

—By Father David

—Our Own Children Are Our Best Knew Disciples!

1. DEAR FAMILY: GREETINGS IN JESUS' PRECIOUS NAME! WELL, PTL! HERE WE ARE AT THE BEGINNING OF 1979 & I thought you might appreciate a little digest‚ interpretation & analysis of our World Stats for not only the latest month but the whole past year, & compared to other years as well, to see how we're doing! PTL? Paul went back to see the brethren "to see how they do" & to strengthen them, so that's what I'm trying to do with you. GBY!

2. ONE OF THE MOST ASTONISHING THINGS IS THAT WE ARE GROWING MORE RAPIDLY THAN EVER BEFORE!—Contrary to what you might have perceived, we gained more new disciples in 1978 than our average yearly gain for the past 10 years!—Mostly in new babies alone!—"Knew Disciples."

3. OUR AVERAGE YEARLY GROWTH FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS HAS BEEN ABOUT 570 NEW DISCIPLES PER YEAR. Totaling the actual growth per year for the past 10 years & dividing that by 10, we come out with a 570 yearly average!

4. BUT OUR GROWTH IN NEW BABIES ALONE FOR 1978 WAS A PHENOMENAL 611 NEW DISCIPLES VIA THE BIRTH CANAL!—A record number of babies above any year for the past 10 years! So 1978 was a record year for children! So we now have a total of 1,741 children in the Family, which is about one–third of our total live-in population!

5. I'D LIKE TO CALL THEM "KNEW" DISCIPLES from the various Scriptures in the Bible in which it was said that "he knew his wife & she conceived & bare a child"! (Such as Genesis 4:1.) So I'd call that a "KNEW" child or a "KNEW Disciple"!

6. AND I'D SAY THAT'S THE BEST KIND OF DISCIPLE-A "KNEW DISCIPLE"! These KNEW Disciples are born of good Christian parents, missionaries, full-time workers for the Lord, blessed of the Lord before birth, given of God to His children for His Service, born to genuine Christian missionaries on many foreign & home fields during active service for the Lord.

7. THEY ARE TRAINED IN THE "NURTURE & ADMONITION OF THE LORD" (EPH.6:4) FROM THE VERY START‚ active in His Service from their earliest years, under the direct tutelage & radiant example of their very own parents on the field‚ taught to love & serve the Lord & others from the very beginning‚ & blessed by God because of their faithful parents from the very start!—What a headstart for a disciple!

8. WHAT BETTER BEGINNING COULD ANY BABY HAVE THAN THAT? What better inheritance & heritage could any child have than a good Christian father &/or mother, either or both missionaries in foreign fields, serving the Lord to the best of their ability, & setting a powerful example to their children along with the teaching of His Word & the training in His Service!

9. THAT IS THE GREATEST HERITAGE OR INHERITANCE THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY GIVE ANY CHILD! It's the kind of heritage & inheritance that I received from my parents, thank God!—And better than most of you got from your parents, sad to say! These are improvements on the stock!

10. THESE OUGHT TO BE THE BEST BABIES IN THE WORLD, born to the best parents in the world doing the best job in the world for Jesus! They should have the best & brightest future in the whole world, blessed by God! What better new disciples could you have than that?

11. THEY SELDOM EVER BACKSLIDE & will certainly stay with you for at least a few years of back-ground training & environment that they will never forget, & will undoubtedly go on serving the Lord for the rest of their lives!

12. WHAT BETTER NEW DISCIPLES COULD WE HAVE THAN THAT?—And at what better rate could you be gaining them than that?—Better than our past 10-year average!—And at your latest rate of nearly a hundred a month, by this time next year we should have a thousand more!—Or more!—Nearly double our average yearly gain for the past 10 years!

13. SOME OF YOU HAVE BEEN CONCERNED ABOUT THE RECENT DECLINE IN OUR TOTAL STATS since the purging of the RNR‚ but I believe we have simply weeded out a lot of the chaff & kept the good grain!—And I believe a lot of the chaff was nothing but padded stats by over-zealous Chain–Gang officers!

14. OUR GREATEST LOSS SEEMED TO BE CATACOMB DISCIPLES, which were probably non-existent & had simply been on the books for years. Actually, our full-time live-in Disciple population has remained fairly steady, around 5,000 for the past 3 years. There was only a tremendous gain in Catacombers above that 5,000 after the New Revolution of 1975 through '76 & '77.

15. THEN THE CLEAN SWEEP OF THE RNR OF '78 ELIMINATED NON-EXISTENT PADDED STATS BY THE OVER-ZEALOUS CHAIN-GANG!—Otherwise, our full-time Live-in Family has remained steadily around 5‚000 members for the past 3 years with only slight variations. I guess the Lord knows that's about all we can pastor & train well. Besides, though the harvest truly is plenteous, the labourers are always few. (Mt.9:37.)

16. THE 5‚000 FULL-TIME LABOURERS IN OUR FAMILY IS A SENSATIONAL RECORD FOR ANY RELIGIOUS GROUP! Even my old denomination that is totally missionary-minded, after 150 years they still have only 2,000 full-time missionaries & less than half as many fields as we have. We have over 5,000 full-time missionaries on about 80 fields!

17. NOT ONLY THAT, OUR FULL-TIME MISSIONARIES ARE NOT ALL AMERICANS, such as in most American churches & denominations. According to our very newest stats on page 8 of the little Stats Charts, you will find a new chart called Nationalisation! Here we find that:

18. ONLY 30% OF OUR TOTAL LIVE-IN FAMILY ARE STILL U. S. AMERICANS!—And only 13% of our entire population still lives in the United States! So we are about 70% nationalised‚ which is a terrific record for any missionary group! I don't know any other missionary society that could equal it!

19. THE U. S. OF COURSE, OUR EARLY BASE, HAS THE HIGHEST RECORD FOR NATIONALISATION, WITH 83% U. S. CITIZENS. Australia is 2nd with 80% Sweden 3rd with 73%, Japan & Italy 4th each with 72%, the United kingdom 5th with 64%, Mexico 6th with 62.5%‚ Germany 7th with 54%, France 8th with 53% & Peru 9th with 49%.

20. OUR TOP–10 COUNTRIES ARE ABOUT HALF NATIONALISED OR MORE! The next run from New Zealand at 46% down to Austria 10%. Austria, India, Turkey, Malaysia, Puerto Rico have the lowest percentage of nationalisation, only 10% to 20%. Those still with the highest percentage of our U.S. Americans are the Philippine Islands 64%, Puerto Rico 55%, Greece 32%, Turkey & Portugal 30%‚ Peru 28%, Malaysia 27%, Italy & Japan 26%, Mexico 25%, Venezuela 22% & Germany 20%.

21. THESE COUNTRIES NEED TO WORK ON GETTING RID OF SOME OF YOUR U. S. CITIZENS AS SOON AS YOU CAN, & send them out to pioneer other places. I know that the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico, Greece & Turkey are beautiful places to live‚ but I don't think they need that many Americans.

22. YOU U.S. CITIZENS IN THOSE TOP–AMERICANISED COUNTRIES NEED TO SHOVE OFF to pioneer elsewhere where you are more needed. Come on! Let's "go into all the world & preach the Gospel to every creature"! Amen? Hallelujah! The new NRS of '79 is really taking effect & we're really Nationalising & truly Reorganising & genuinely being far more Security wise than before. Hallelujah! PG! TYJ!

23. OUR CATACOMB STATS ARE ALSO GOING TO BOOM NOW!—God willing—& I think He is! The Worldwide Mail Ministry to our IRF Drop-in Disciples is booming!—These are Family members who have had to go back to the System, because of their own growing little family responsibilities, or new disciples who have not yet left it. The IRF Applications for Membership & Stat Reports are pouring in, along with their contributions toward Family support.

24. THESE CATACOMB DROP-INS STILL WISH TO BE NUMBERED AS FAMILY MEMBERS who witness & report & contribute to Family welfare & the fellowship of the Letters. As a result, our new Worldwide Mailing List has grown to over 10‚000‚ of whom hundreds are returning their IRF's!

25. SO I EXPECT OUR CATACOMBER POPULATION TO ABSOLUTELY SKY-ROCKET!—From less than 700 to several thousand, which should push our total Family population stats to near 10,000 before this year is over!—God willing. This would be the greatest growth in our history, if you all remain faithful & loyal to keep pushing on for the Lord!

26. WE'VE ALREADY REACHED OUR LARGEST NUMBER OF HOMES IN OUR HISTORY: 879 IN 76 COUNTRIES!—with an average of less than 6 Family members per Home-an ideal single-family–size for Homes in smaller & more scattered units, preaching the Gospel in more places than ever before, & therefore much more secure, efficient, effective & longer-lasting.

27. I EXPECT THESE SINGLE-FAMILY–SIZE UNITS TO GROW IN NUMBER AS OUR CATACOMBERS & IRF MEMBERS GROW, these labourers for the Lord, who‚ though still in the System, still want to be counted as members of our Family, faithful witnesses, reporting & contributing. Therefore I think that we should count each of their Homes as a Family Home.—Amen?—They're part of us!

28. SO THAT SHOULD MAKE OUR HOMES STAT SKYROCKET along with the growth of the irF member-ship by mail. Hallelujah? PF! TYJ! We're still rolling & growing & going into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature!

29. WE'VE ALSO ALREADY DISTRIBUTED A THIRD-OF-A-BILLION COPIES OF OUR LIT& LETTERS TO THE WHOLE WORLD! So we must have a few million Followers as well, with 2½ million copies of our lit distributed to them each month! Spain, the USA, Philippines, Italy & Japan are still the Top 5 in the quantity of lit distributed, with Bolivia, Thailand, Philippines, Honduras & Costa Rica the Top 5 in the amount of lit per adult distributed.

30. THE TOP 5 INDIVIDUAL LITNESS SHINERS WORLD WIDE ARE Sunny in Montreal‚ Peter in Melbourne, Jeremiah in Thailand, Belte Bondo in Philadelphia & David Woods in Spain. The 5 Top Homes worldwide with the highest lit per adult average distribution are: Pattaya, Thailand: Somali, India: Brother Sun, Rome: David, Birmingham & North Melbourne. (We don't know whether that's Birmingham, Alabama, or Birmingham, England?)

31. OUR TOTAL WITNESS IS STILL SKY-ROCKETING AS WE'RE STILL NEWS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, PG!—Even though it's bad news to some people! It's better for the Gospel to be bad news for some people than no news on all!

32. OUR MONTHLY NUMBER OF CONVERTS IS CLIMBING AGAIN WITH OVER 36‚000 A MONTH, PG! That's an average of about 11 per adult Family member, a lot more than I ever saw most churches winning for the Lord in one month! That means that one of our disciples or family members wins more souls in one month than the average entire, church! I dare the churches to tie that one!

33. ASIA & AFRICA FINALLY HIT THE TOP OF THE POPS in 3 of our 6 most important categories: converts per Adult, New converts per Home & Ideal Home size! God bless Asia & Africa! You're making it at last! Your patience‚ endurance & perseverance are finally paying off, as well as just plain hard work, plowing, sowing, watering & dunging to feed those sheep!

34. TOPS IN THE OTHER 3 MAJOR CATEGORIES were the Pacific for Lit per Adult, Northern Europe for percentage of gain in Homes, & Latin America for Net Gain in Disciples. God bless you all! You're all doing a good job, PTL And though our lit per adult is rising again, thank the Lord & you, note that:

35. THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF LIT BEING DISTRIBUTED EACH MONTH IS STILL DECLINING & we are very concerned as to whether you are giving the Word its proper emphasis. We realise that you are now engaging in many other types of ministries as well, but please do not let it cause you to neglect your distribution of God's Word throughout the world!

36. WITH A DISTRIBUTION OF LESS THAN 1,000 COPIES PER MONTH PER ADULT‚ I would say that some of you are not doing your best & could do better, despite some of the rising persecution. Please don't neglect His Word! Some of you are still good battle-front soldiers manning those street barricades & could still do well on the streets until you are literally driven off.

37. DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP PREMATURELY! Don't stop fighting too soon! Don't go into hiding unless you have to! Don't jump ship too soon before it is really sunk! Stay out there as long as you can. If the witnessing & the litnessing on the streets is still good & you can still make it, why turn tail & run to a system job when you don't have to? An underground cover job is only for those who can no longer make it on the streets or in a selah closing country. Stay above ground as long as you can until they drive you under!

38. OUR LIT DISTRIBUTION HAS DROPPED OFF TWO THIRDS SINCE THE RNR! Is this due to genuine persecution & prohibition?—Or is it just plain pure laziness & cowardice? I'm inclined to believe that some of it must be the latter, since you litnessing per adult has also dropped off proportionately—Or have you found it simply easier to make money other ways?—Since while your litnessing income has declined deplorably‚

39. YOUR TOTAL INCOME HAS RISEN PHENOMENALLY! Praise God for the latter, but I'm sad for the former, come on! Let's not quit till they hit! According to the World Average, the people on the streets have not stopped giving. Their gifts-per-copy have remained about the same for the past 5 years, though fewer may be giving—or maybe you're just not asking! Let's go Team! Get out there till they throw you out! Amen? God bless & keep you & continue to make you a blessing!

40. COULD IT BE THAT YOUR LOCAL TCC'S ARE NOT DOING SO GOOD & ARE NOT FURNISHING YOU WITH ENOUGH AMMUNITION THAT YOU NEED? Has your faith for printing declined like your faith for litnessing since the TCC Revolution? I noticed your local printing is at an all-time low!—Or are you simply forgetting to report it on your monthly report? And why aren't our world service printings included in these total printing stats?

41. THE PACIFIC & LATIN AMERICA ARE ON TOP WITH NEARLY HALF-A-MILLION COPIES printed each, southern Europe 3rd with nearly a third-of-a-million‚ but rich Northern America & Northern Europe are way down the line with only a little over 100,000 copies each printed each month,

42. SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT THE COMIX, THEY ARE THE MOST POPULAR PRINTED ITEM THAT WE PUBLISH!—3 times as many as any other‚ item, & 5 times as many as the Letters! Keep 'em rolling kids! In fact the new Kids Komix & younger Children's Editions should go just as well.

43. —COME ON! GET OUT THERE & REALLY SELL LIKE YOU USED TO! Some of you can still do it! And just remember you don't have to publish anything you don't want to or you feel would not go over in your area‚ but you certainly ought to be publishing something!

44. PUBLISH GLAD TIDINGS! ROLL THE GOLD! GO INTO ALL THE WORLD & PREACH THE GOSPEL UNTO EVERY CREATURE!—With every piece of lit you possibly can! Amen? GBY! A lot of our lit is still going like hotcakes, old gold as well as new wine! The Top 10 were: "Love Is News", "Change the World", "Dying Dollar", "Anti-God War", "Declaration of Love", "Death or Dawn", "You Never Lose by Giving"‚ "Sounds in the Night", "Love for All" & "There Are Absolutes".

45. HALLELUJAH! PG! WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE? Make it the public's favourite too! Don't try to sell something you're not sold on print what you like, & you'll like to distribute it, & they will like it too. Come on, let's pull out of this lit nosedive before you crash! You must not neglect the Word or you'll suffer for it! If you preach it He'll bless you!

46. ONE OF THE BRIGHT SPOTS ON THE WORLD HORIZON IS YOUR CONTINUALLY—BOOMING FFing STATS!—GBY!! So far you FFers have witnessed to nearly 200,000 souls, won about 15,000 of them to the Lord, & won nearly 25,000 as friends! You're really reaching a lot of the formerly unreached by this method, which over half of you are participating in regularly. You've also written now about 30,000 letters to your fish, & received nearly 15,000 returns!

47. ASIA, AFRICA‚ THE PACIFIC & SOUTHERN EUROPE AT THE TOP OF THE FF POPS, with Northern Europe, Latin America & North America at the bottom! The top 10 in Souls won by FFing are now Brasil‚ Spain, USA, Venezuela, Philippine Islands, Mexico, Peru, India, Portugal & Italy. Your resultant income has been good too, with the Pacific, Southern Europe & Latin America at the top‚ but Northern Europe‚ Asia, Africa & North America at the bottom!

48. LATIN AMERICA, SOUTHERN EUROPE & THE PACIFIC ARE THE BEST GIFT-GETTERS PER FISH! GBY! Latin America, North America, Asia & Africa the best for Souls per fish. So that FFing now accounts for about 3% of our total souls won & 10% of the total Family income, with the professionals, services & students still comprising your most popular audience & the most souls won.

49. DON'T FORGET TO READ EVERY SINGLE COPY OF THE FN! It contains not only exciting news & Family gossip, but also very important vital announcements everyone must hear regardless of your language! If you are not getting translated copies in your area‚ find one & read it to all, or find at least one translator who can read it to your Home. You must read it to get all the latest important news & vital announcements that will effect you personally!

50. —AND DON'T FORGET THAT ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT JOBS NOW IS THE TENDER LOVING CARE OF OUR "KNEW DISCIPLES" The best thing about them is they won't backslide if you remain faithful! So come on, let's "know" some more! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Keep on going & knowing & sowing & getting "Knew Disciples" every day!

51. HALLELUJAH! DON'T WORRY, GOD WON'T GIVE YOU MORE THAN MORE THAN HE KNOWS YOU CAN HANDLE‚ or that the Family can help you handle. Get in there & help "know" the "knew" ones & train them in the "know" ledge of the Lord! We're about to have a "knew" one!—Are you?—Or are you just a has known?

52. LET'S KEEP ON KNOWING THOSE "KNEW DISCIPLES" & TAKING GOOD CARE OF THEM! GBY all!—And if you wanna know how to take good care of them, read all about it in the Family News, Dito Stories & the Letters!—And be sure to know the Lord! Don't be one of those to whom He said‚ "Depart from me, never knew you!" (Mt.7:23.) Know & Know & Know some more‚ until we have lots more "Knew Disciples"! Hallelujah! GBY! ILY!—Dad.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family