RCG: Great Commission Operational Plan

The previous chapter explained our Strategic Plan—why we did what we did, and in the order we did them, in the early years of RCG. That plan is different from our two Operational Plans—one for the First, or Great, Commission, the other for the Second Commission of feeding God’s flock.

This chapter and the next look in greater detail at where these commissions have taken the Church today, and where we anticipate they will take us in the near future. We have well-developed plans going forward within each of the two major commissions given by God to the Church at the end of the age.

“Behind the Work” Video

Many will recall the Worldwide Church of God’s Behind the Work films produced in the last years under Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. Our expansive “Behind the Work 2007 (and 2008)” present God’s Work with the same style and impact, and offer a detailed and fascinating inside view of how RCG takes the gospel to all nations and territories, reaching millions each year, while spiritually feeding an ever-growing worldwide flock.

Brethren in every WCG splinter owe it to themselves to see these videos. (Thousands of our readers learning the Bible’s truths for the first time would also find the films eye-opening.) They are powerful, undeniable, set-the-record-straight statements of where God now works. Those expecting the usual, incomplete amateur production presented by others will be left amazed. While many have dismissed RCG as an inconsequential “Internet ministry” and “one man show,” these films thunder the truth and set the record straight!

Those with an open mind, or those unhappy with the lack of zeal in the group or organization they attend, but who are yet to be convinced of a “better option,” will not want to miss this inspiring behind-the-scenes film! The picture painted presents a giant contrast to all that is happening elsewhere!

God’s people have been victims of a monstrous crime. If you are among those who want returned everything stolen from them, and who long for the subsequent peace, harmony and real excitement enjoyed during the golden years of Philadelphia, including the wonderful unity and purpose experienced… If you wish to be part of the final true Work of God… If you only have another 75 minutes to devote to everything written or spoken by RCG… WATCH JUST ONE OF THESE VIDEOS!

On Fire for the Work!

This Christ-led Church is absolutely on fire for the Work of God, and the amount of our current material, ongoing and future projects prove it! And, as explained, we have material available in English, French, Spanish, German, Afrikaans and Dutch.

Every day, we receive inquiries from people hearing God’s truth for the first time, and these are from around the world. And we hear from former The World Tomorrow listeners, PLAIN TRUTH subscribers, co-workers and ex-WCG members, hearing Christ’s voice through our literature and sermons. We continue to grow at a very steady and rapidly accelerating rate.

But remember to keep in mind that this is the Laodicean age. It is no longer Philadelphia’s time. Because of this, and because time is growing short, I have previously explained that it is not possible to do the same kind of large Work—meaning number of conversions—that occurred under Mr. Armstrong.

Exploding Income

All that follows in this chapter is a direct byproduct of one fundamental reality that The Restored Church of God enjoys year after year after year: Our annual income continues to rise at an unprecedented level probably throughout the history of God’s Church, in this century, the last century or any other century.

The Church’s 2008 income grew by 31 percent above 2007. This continues a pattern of increase: 2002 saw over 45 percent growth—2003 was a bit under 3 percent—2004 was over 42 percent—2005 was almost right at 23 percent—and 2006 saw a more than 41 percent increase—and 2007 was over 77 percent. In nearly every case, these numbers were well above projections. Of course, and this is the oft-forgotten factor of sustained growth over multiple years, each year’s percentage is derived from a much larger base figure—meaning the long-term raw number growth becomes phenomenal, now the case with RCG.

While the splinters and slivers ALL struggle to outpace inflation—4.1 percent just to break even in 2007—and some are actually declining—but others seem unembarrassed to trumpet only single digit growth—in income against an inflation number that exacerbates the problem, we project continued growth in 2009.

It has been gratifying to see increasing numbers of people cut through the misinformation and see plainly where God is working!

Two MOST IMPORTANT Sermons!!!

Most among those who are even a little bit awake comprehend that there cannot possibly be more than a handful of years remaining to complete what God intends for His Work to accomplish!

In this regard, there is a companion pair of truly essential sermons that everyone considering us must hear together—and understand. The first, “The 1,335 Days—What Most Will Never Hear,” introduces the second sermon and explains how the Bible reveals that a range of years remains until the 1,335 date arrives (before Christ’s Return). It also makes clear that the only way this date will be known is that the leadership of God’s Church will have it revealed to them as happened in A.D. 69-70, when we saw the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.

The second sermon—“Clarion Call—The Time Is NOW!”—is unlike anything I have ever delivered. It has become a powerful center of focus for all members of the Church. This sermon brings into view like none other how everything explained in this book so far has brought God’s Church to the extraordinary, historic crossroads it reached.

You absolutely must hear these sermons!

We can now look more closely at our Great Commission Operational Plan—at some of what must yet be accomplished. We are already employing several methods of doing the Work, including our two absolutely mammoth websites, Internet and occasional newspaper advertising, and a rapidly expanding Real Truth Newsstand Distribution Program. While we have talked about further plans for television, there are other vehicles for doing the Work that are in place or under consideration.

Two Giant Websites

One measure of the growth of the Work of RCG is the number of downloads from our websites. In 2007, we had almost 11.7 million downloads. In 2006, we exceeded 8.5 million items taken from our website, compared to the little over 3.7 million of 2005. By every standard, this is spectacular growth!

For several years, we recognized and spoke of the near “tripling effect” that we saw on average for six straight years previously—2001 through 2006, when we averaged 189 percent growth! (Also, in 2005 we had 2,037,316 visits to our websites. In 2006 we had 6,231,963 visits. This means we had a 206 percent increase in visits for that year!)

Before continuing, recognize that the reason we are now reaching so many millions of readers and listeners with even more millions of pieces of literature and broadcasts is that we have a large—and fast growing!—budget in place for Internet advertising. (The kind of growth cited earlier makes this possible.) This budget is revisited every month and always aggressively expanded.

Success Guaranteed!

Here is where our Operational Plan for the Great Commission grows exciting—and I mean REALLY EXCITING! It should now be clear that our plan—God’s Plan!—must produce the biggest short-term impact in religion the world has ever seen. In fact, prophecies you have studied in this book reveal in advance this will happen—so we need only to figure out what God is leading us to do and then watch it come to pass.

Why the Internet?

Technology has always been a mainstay of God’s Work. During the twentieth century, preaching the gospel was primarily accomplished by television and radio. With these media, popularity was measured by the size of local markets, ranging from several thousand to many millions. The Internet has forced a shift in thinking. Local markets measured in the millions (or much less) have been replaced with a global market totaling well over one billion—and rapidly expanding!

Even in the early stages of God’s twentieth-century Work, Mr. Armstrong and his assistants were quick to employ the latest technologies. God’s Church has always been willing to explore and employ the most effective means available—from the early printing press to modern high-speed color printers. This also included additional means of doing the Work, such as public campaigns, which were later replaced by Public Bible Lectures, with the very successful PLAIN TRUTH Newsstand Distribution Program still later.

Over time, radio was largely supplanted by television. Once Mr. Armstrong fully understood the power of this visual medium, he moved quickly to take advantage of this new technology. This shift was adopted early—even before television was the primary entertainment source. The pattern of adopting “cutting-edge” technologies had been established. By the time TV blanketed the nation, God’s servants were already skilled in how to effectively use it for the furthering of the gospel. This put them “ahead of the game” in a powerful way!

Over the course of Mr. Armstrong’s ministry, radio and television carried his voice into homes around the world. God inspired His servant to embrace new technologies that were the most effective means of doing the Work at that time—obviously because this was the way to reach the most people.

Today, the Internet has become the most successful medium the world has ever seen. It has grown faster than any before it. In just two decades, its “population” surpassed the one billion mark, with many additional millions using it each year. It is now officially the world’s largest communication medium, except for television during primetime.

This technology has already taken the gospel into all 193 countries of the world—and all reachable territories—and in an unprecedented comprehensive way. Unlike radio or television, the costs to reach every country are minimal—not millions of dollars. Never has God’s Church been supplied with a method to preach “all things” to “all nations” both instantly and so inexpensively!

The Internet Today

Some statistics about the Internet will help the reader understand how many people it reaches and how widespread is its use.

Since 2000, the size of the Internet has more than quadrupled—and the trend shows no signs of slowing. As of March 2009, the Internet hosts nearly 1.6 billion users, the majority of which originate from Western nations. However, its popularity is growing rapidly in parts of the world in which God’s Work had been prevented from reaching in the last century (such as China). It is also reaching other prophetically important parts of the world. In the European Union, for example, nearly 50 percent of citizens have Internet access.

However, the Internet’s size is not the whole story. It is also quickly becoming the primary source for knowledge and information.

In late 2005, the three major television networks lay claim to about 27 million viewers combined for their nightly news programs. In comparison, 50 million Americans received their news online!

Another poll revealed that over 45 percent of 18- to 54-year-olds turn to the Internet for news and entertainment, rather than television. This same poll asked, “If you could select only two media sources, which would you choose?” In every age group, the Internet was their number one choice. Not only do most people prefer the Internet, it dominates their media time. On average, Americans spend 77 percent more time online than watching television.

Further investigation reveals this interesting fact: Approximately 70 percent of those polled watch television while multitasking—doing other things. Of this number, 66 percent are also online. In other words, the majority of those watching television are likely not paying close attention!

Another study indicated that 83 percent prefer the Internet over newspapers for their daily news. Never mind that information online is much more current than any newspaper or most television. The result: Newspaper subscriptions drop each year, but visitors to newspaper websites jumped 21 percent in 2005—and more in 2006.

This has forced major newspapers to shift much of their focus online. Increasingly, other large corporations have come to understand that the Internet is the future of ALL media!

Large organizations such as Disney have begun using their television programs and advertising to support their online efforts. Others, such as Proctor & Gamble and Unilever, are using the Internet to expand their products. They have created specialty websites demonstrating new and interesting ways their products can be used. Like the avalanche of evidence already cited, this is another sign that the world recognizes its focus is no longer on television.

Of course, this does not mean the complete end of video or traditional television programs. Even major broadcast networks understand there is still a demand for these programs.

Radio is also not immune to the Internet shift. A company that measures radio audiences released a report showing listeners could fall between 85 and 94 percent by 2010. This is a catastrophic drop.

Cost savings and the general effectiveness of the Internet should be obvious. And these statistics are not lost on God’s Church, which would be expected to adjust accordingly. The Internet’s potential is nearly endless. Effectively using this tool is one reason God’s Work has experienced unprecedented growth year after year—and for minimal cost!

Similar to popular Nielsen Ratings, the Internet has many rating sites to compare the effectiveness, or scope, of one website to another. The most popular of these rates our sites, rcg.org and realtruth.org, highly among all Church of God websites.

A Final Look at Television

Imagine if Mr. Armstrong were alive and understood the Internet’s reach. Imagine he could be told there was a method to do the Work that could reach every country in the world—on a daily basis!—and that this medium allowed vast numbers of magazines, books, booklets, articles, lessons, broadcasts and even video to reach those countries. Now imagine his reaction when told this technology was virtually free!

Should any doubt what he would do?

Aside from the staggering costs of television and radio, and the public shift, there are other important reasons these media are antiquated and why it is foolish to value them above the Internet.

Television—like movies—has become a source of entertainment. The major networks feed society’s desire for entertainment, not news! Time slots for purchase are few and far between. This leaves only specialty “fringe” channels selling airtime.

Even if major broadcast networks were available and affordable, the Internet still greatly overshadows them in exposure. For instance, 30 million viewers are considered great ratings. However, that is during the most expensive timeslots, which are far out of any splinter group’s reach.

Consider that the Super Bowl has an average viewing audience of just over 90 million worldwide. Access to that audience comes at a huge price. A 30-second commercial was $2.6 million in 2007! Albeit the most-watched program each year, the Super Bowl reaches only a fraction of those connected to the Internet.

Then, what television channels are affordable? Only specialty channels with tiny audiences, yet still costing millions of dollars per year. This is a waste of God’s tithes. The splinters continue to focus on a medium that reaches, in comparison, an infinitesimal market at an enormous cost. This is further evidence Christ does not lead these organizations!

The Internet exposure to a vast and growing number of users is not only larger than television and radio, but much more effective. It is the media bias associated with television news that has driven many to the Internet for information. When people want breaking news, they turn to the Internet. When they want world events explained, they turn to the Internet. When wanting to understand virtually any topic, they do the same. By properly utilizing this medium, The Restored Church of God provides over a million answers each month.

The most receptive, responsive person is one who is searching for spiritual information. He is already looking for answers. Our websites literally “have it all.” This is in part because the Internet also permits us to “archive” everything we have ever done in one location—for free!—something never possible in Mr. Armstrong’s time!

God’s Church is not passively hoping people will tune in to a television program that runs in the wee hours of the night at relatively great annual cost. Christ has shaped and directed technology to expand His Work. It is not only the most effective medium the world has ever seen, again, its massive impact costs virtually nothing!

Why do so few grasp this?

Never has God’s Church been blessed with such a comprehensive tool to “preach the gospel unto all nations.” Imagine the potential with even small additional numbers willing to support it.

The way that people find God’s truth has changed. God’s Church must change with it. We have. Truly, God has planned and developed the Internet as the principal tool to finish the remainder of His powerful “short work” (Rom. 9:27-28)!

Think of this in the following way: Imagine we are General Motors Corporation early in its existence. Now imagine that we have been told early on that we will become the largest automobile manufacturer ever, and this will also happen over a short period—and that it was certain—it was GUARANTEED! Then imagine we were even told that if plant laborers or leaders were negligent or became disloyal and left to join the competition, faithful replacements would be provided—in other words, we would still achieve our goals, no matter what. All that remained would be to think of the right strategies and tactics to make this certainty come to pass. But even imagine that these would be shown to us by God.

We have described the Work of The Restored Church of God!

Recall again that Mr. Armstrong said God’s people should always “pray as though it all depends on God, but work as though it all depends on us”—and also that “the Work of God moves forward on its knees.” Therefore, instead of falling back to “cruise control,” because we understand prophecy, we are using God’s end-of-the-age Master Plan as motivation to try even harder at innovation and use of creative ingenuity.

Website Strategy

This said, developing colossal websites requires a carefully designed strategy—and employing a variety of tactics—as well as recognizing that regular postings on both our sites must continually occur. Regarding The Real Truth site, for instance—try to think of this as you read—in addition to (1) producing ten magazines annually instead of six, we are also (2) posting regular special news alerts, and (3) we will in the Spring of 2008 be moving to a new format of videocasting The World to Come, to be posted at designated intervals each month. These will be advertised as they arrive. (More on this later.)

Of course, what you have read in just the last paragraph has meant that a significant number of effective new writers have had to be trained to meet these expanding editorial needs. This has been another one of our internal training programs that was able to yield enough skilled writers to keep up with the demand of our publications and these other editorial needs. This said, we know that God will continue sending us additional effective writers, or those able to be trained to help the Work in this way.

Finally, and this is perhaps now obvious to the reader, the sheer awesome size of our websites brought us to a point in the road where we had to bring in a large, outside company to remodel (not merely redesign) both our websites over the previous year. In a sense, these sites needed to stand “at the top of the world,” so to speak. This meant an extraordinary amount of attention needed to be brought to their appearance, functionality, usability, internal mechanics and capability to maximize their overall impact. The Real Truth site was completed first, with rcg.org to follow soon, and also covering a period of about one year.

New Television Studio!

—Videocasting The World to Come!

Mr. Armstrong began to announce the gospel in the 1930s on The World Tomorrow radio program. Decades later most of his public preaching had moved to television. This program slowly built a giant audience of regular listeners, many millions of whom went on to read The Plain Truth magazine and other literature. Of course, many thousands became members after first hearing Mr. Armstrong’s voice on this program. This established the successful pattern used today of public preaching to the world.

The World To Come program: Following the pattern of Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Pack regularly records broadcasts. Each new one is posted and archived on the Internet, allowing the gospel of the kingdom of God to be preached around the globe 24 hours a day.

Before our plans to move to videocasting, we produced 112 World to Come audio broadcasts. Of course, these are all available 24 hours a day on The Real Truth website, which means there exists a system of archiving programs Mr. Armstrong could never have dreamed of 25 years ago.

Recognizing that we live in a largely image- driven ‘video world,’ we understood the need to begin videocasting The World to Come program. The first step was to find space in our building to construct what amounts to a ‘world- class’—state- of- the- art television studio. Necessary sufficient space was secured and construction was completed.

These are regularly produced, and the length, set appearance and style closely resemble Mr. Armstrong’s telecasts. One of the virtual doctrines of the past was that we serve a God of quality. Therefore, these videocasts reflect excellence, and are absolutely professional in every way—using high definition cameras, beautiful studio, sufficient and quality graphics, news footage, powerful statistics, effective music, all of this brought together by cutting- edge software.

Of course, all of this came together and was possible through use of a trained team of outside professionals. We were also blessed to already have trained professionals in place on our staff. It took very little time to perfect the level of quality we already achieve.

Watch The Real Truth website for weekly broadcasts!

More About Television

The subject of a studio automatically reintroduces the subject of doing the Work on television.

As mentioned, some proclaim that any organization not on television is not really doing the Work—and thus is Laodicean. By this definition, the prophets, apostles, and Jesus Himself were all Laodicean, and none did the Work. The same would be true of Mr. Armstrong for 34 of the first 35 years of his ministry. (For some of 1955-56, he did contract about 13 television stations.) Obviously, addressing this kind of silly thinking dignifies it and “suffers fools gladly.”

It is worth repeating that the nature of television has changed dramatically. Because of station proliferation, no amount of careful planning can avoid taking unfavorable, yet still expensive, airtime to be able to say, “We are on television!” Spiritually savvy people, and certainly experienced administrators, see through such silly assertions—and hollow accusations against those not on television. (Sadly, however, this shallow thinking has confused thousands.) Also, as explained, spending God’s tithes today on the medium of television in almost any amount is plain poor stewardship. (Carefully examine the previous “Internet” inset.)

All of this said, I expect that someday we probably will be on television. (I will actually be seen this fall on national television. The special, unusual interview has already been taped.) I can conceive of this occurring in four possible ways, none of them involving a regular program on a host of stations around the world. God almost certainly has something much larger in mind in this regard, and this could include:

Envisioning RCG’s Future: The following pages contain preliminary architectural renderings of our future Headquarters office complex.

(1) Spot commercials (30 or 60 seconds in length) on many stations, hopefully in at least all large- and medium-sized markets, probably mostly in the nations of Israel.

(2) Interviews on popular talk shows (this has already happened on radio several times).

(3) One or more national television specials to a huge audience, reached all at once. This would almost certainly follow a large advertising campaign in advance.

(4) Major media coverage, at some point, as a result of the size and power of the Work—the case with the special interview referenced above that will be seen around the world probably several times!!!

Television today is still evolving. Everyone in any way connected to mass media understands this. The future will demonstrate how and to what degree this medium should be used within the final Work of God. However, with our new studio, we are in a position to quickly move forward should this be God’s will.

Still Looking Ahead

We are also currently exploring the possibility of spot ads on radio that could appear sometime in the future. These could also eventually be on local stations in a variety of western countries, and they could be anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds in length.

We recognize that the special warning to Israel will almost certainly take us into most or all of the major western newspapers before the age is complete. Mr. Armstrong employed powerful full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Los Angeles Times, among other great American papers. Any realistic approach to reaching countless millions would almost have to include papers like these and many others before it could be said that the Great Commission and special warning were truly finished. In time, we think these ads could also encompass the major news magazines of our time.

The Real Truth Distribution Program

I have already referenced our Real Truth Newsstand Distribution Program. When Mr. Armstrong was alive, this was a vital means of reaching many more millions in every country in which the Church had members “on the ground.” We are striving to be as aggressive as possible in expanding this program, and we do employ it everywhere we have brethren able to participate.

It is not an overstatement to say this program will one day by itself likely reach hundreds of thousands, or more. Those who remember this ongoing local project from the past, and the number who were reached and even converted as a result, can look forward to being part of the same exciting program once again if they come with RCG.

Many Books Available in Bookstores

Recall Mr. Armstrong’s quotes about most of his books being made available to a larger audience of readers who would only read a book if they could purchase it in a store. He explained, and the Church understood beginning in 1978, that doing this was not a violation of Matthew 10:8.

RCG reached a similar point in its development. With more truth in writing than any time in Church history, we decided in late-2007 that we were ready to follow Mr. Armstrong’s pattern—and were able to do so in an expanded way. Very, very dramatic plans developed!

First we were led to select a large, top-of-the-industry publishing company. Then we signed a contract for and submitted our first book—The Awesome Potential of Man. The next step, after thoroughly learning the process, was to submit one book a month thereafter, starting in 2009.

These are currently available around the world online. The reader is left to contemplate the awesome impact of adding just this single additional element to God’s Work! Keep watching for more announcements!

Semi-Annual Updates

Beginning in December 2000, I began the pattern of giving semi-annual sermon updates of the Church’s and Work’s progress toward its goals.

Through these updates, I wanted God’s people, both inside and outside RCG, to see our steady, accelerating march of progress toward the goals within our Strategic and Operational Plans. (Each middle and end-of-the-year Update is posted on our website.)

Hiring Staff and Field Ministers

The biggest problem with expanding our advertising and the newsstand program beyond where they had come to be was having not yet enough manpower in place to pursue all that could be done in just these areas. Eventually we hired additional people who could focus almost entirely on the magazine distribution program and Internet ads. In fact—I indicated this earlier—we are, and have been, hiring people at a very rapid rate because we have continually growing needs in every Headquarters department. Our staff increased by seven in 2007 and we hired one more full-time minister. Many more staff were hired in 2008, and even more in 2009. More full-time field ministers have also been hired.

We have sufficient staff in place to spend much time effectively advertising God’s truth to the world. A truly unique and experienced marketing (advertising) TEAM has been assembled by God. This “Growth team” constantly considers new ideas, new concepts, data and statistical analysis, technological advancements becoming available, improving the Newsstand Distribution Program, the changing nature of the multiple audiences we seek to reach, matters of efficiency, strategic hiring, very sophisticated hardcopy literature distribution campaigns, differences in approach from nation to nation, and any other additional vehicles and mediums that can be employed for expanding the Work—all as God sends us the funds to go forward with them.

Apart from web remodeling, our expanding staff has also been permitting us to move forward with additional elements of website attractiveness and usability. A plan is in place that is bringing to reality what we have in the past only been able to dream of. Of course, this has already been under way, but we have additional amazing new ideas and concepts—and I do mean amazing!—yet to be fully developed and employed.

As I like to repeat, keep watching! While you are at it, here is another recent dramatic announcement.

New Headquarters Building!

Before discussing our Second Commission Operational Plan, there is another subject that could probably go into any of the final four chapters.

It probably goes without saying that the need to hire so many additional staff automatically creates another great—and now urgent—need for God’s Church. Certain departments serve as part of what are considered to be “support functions” behind the Church’s two central commissions. With the arrival of additional employees and even whole departments comes another kind of “support function”—that of a new administration building able to house the growth we are experiencing!

In the spring of 2007, a plan was announced to build a beautiful new, three-story world headquarters facility well over twice the size of our current space. We waited as long as possible to decide the size of this building because we had to gain a sense of how many employees and departments it would need to house.

We finalized a host of details with architects, banks and construction companies. The economic downturn temporarily put plans on hold. (A series of preliminary, conceptual drawings have been included in this chapter to give an idea of the quality and size we have in mind. These will be modified as more specific designing occurs.)

This building will be state-of-the-art in architecture, functionality and technology utilized. It will have a beautiful auditorium, classrooms and space for all of our existing departments and more, with room to grow. (Of course, just having a building in itself creates at least one new department, the one needed to maintain it.) Our most conservative estimates are that we will be well over 60 employees just by the time we take possession. Then there is the question of how many will be hired after that.

A couple of examples serve here as classic illustrations of a larger point: This announcement brought forward the outside critics. Apparently wanting to believe the Tribulation is only one or two years away (it is obviously no more than a very few years away), some see this as a “my Lord delays His coming” attitude. Incredibly, others who know better compare what we are announcing to “Mr. Armstrong said not to build Church buildings.” Obviously, Mr. Armstrong was speaking of the unwise, wasteful capital investment in local church buildings for local congregations. Remember again, Christ said that His servants would be found “so doing” when He returns.

If God has us enter the new building, and then concludes the Work six months later, no one will complain!

Now here is an example of how things are done elsewhere: The largest splinter planned to move its “home office”—again! It intended to build a new complex of headquarters buildings in another area of the country (Dallas)—again! By an extremely narrow vote of 202 to 195 within its ministry (a swing of just four men)—incredibly, the collective ministry in this organization vote on such things so they can direct their headquarters—this desperately confused, deeply divided organization must not only believe God IS the author of confusion, but also of near 50/50 division as to where “His” headquarters—“home office”—should be.

Think! If God says that He chooses to “place His name” even on Feast sites, would His Headquarters receive from Him less attention? Then, how could over 49 percent of the ministers in this organization be so out of tune with the supposed “will of God” on a matter as important as where God establishes His Headquarters on Earth? (At a certain point, a pitched battle developed over how and whether to proceed because the original property that had been selected fell through, and disagreement ensued over exactly what the ministry had voted to do. This division—and supposedly “God’s will”—swung back the other way with another vote narrowly keeping the “home office” where it was in Cincinnati.)

By contrast, because the government of God is present here, because we know that the living Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, has guided the decision to build a new building, we did not vote on it. We did not have to because when God leads an organization this never happens.

Either blind critics or misguided thinkers have no effect on what Christ is doing in His Church. Men and organizations like these seem unable to comprehend either stability or the most basic things necessary to properly carry out the Great Commission or the Second Commission of feeding the flock…