PASTOR'S REPORT/It:ALA)

PUBLISHED BY THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD

GREETINGS from Headquarters: I'm hoping to spend the next several days working on my new book; am making good progress, with perhaps one-fourth to one-third in rough-draft copy. My wife and I had opportunity yesterday (Sunday, 26th) to spend several hours with my father again. My sister, Mrs. Dorothy Mattson, had been wanting to go along the next time I went over to Tucson, so pictures could be taken with my father, his daughter, her daughter, and her daughter---meaning Mrs. Mattson, her daughter Ginger, and her new daughter (4 mo's), Dianne---four living generations! Also along for the visit were Mr. Vern Mattson, and Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Chapman. My father seemed in good spirits and was once again looking forward to another visit soon from another group of the sabbatical ministers. I spent about an hour on the telephone with him on Sabbath morning, discussing many aspects of the Work, and his desire-to see our Wonderful World Tomorrow booklet updated and offered to the public once more, and briefed him on our special Sabbath services here (about 6,000 attended in the Civic/Exhibition Hall, and approximately 3,000 came to the dance that evening). Just hung up the phone after talking with Dick Janik about media. He is enthusiastic about presenting me with the plans for our new "Pacific Coast Network" of stations! He says it may well include some good 50,000 watters in the Bay Area or elsewhere, and hopes we can have the telephone lines installed, contracts written, and begin broadcasting no later than within the next three weeks! I have been making some 30-minute programs in advance so I can have fresh broadcasts ready in the event of required absences from Pasadena. My schedule is understandably hectic for these next few months: I have committed myself to at least one special Sabbath service per month; Adlai Muhtadi will be in town soon to report on his findings concerning a proposed TV shoot, using the pod, in Saudi Arabia (he hopes the Arabian government will defray most costs!); I hope to get to England, Europe, and the Mideast before too late into the summer months---etc., etc., and of course I face DAILY radio and keeping up with weekly TV! Somehow, it seems we're always behind. My father sends his personal greetings to all of you. He is eagerly looking forward to resuming his activities when God makes possible by giving him additional strength---I know you're all praying for him, and thank you for that! I gave approvals for some exciting new ID developments in media last Friday, which I am listing here: *Charleston, S.C.: WCIV (an NBC affiliate), channel 4, Sunday, 11:30 a.m.
t I ale by Woddyndo Chufch of God

-2- *Columbus, Ohio: WTVN (an ABC affiliate), channel 6, Sunday, 2 p.m.

*Lexington, Ky.: WLEX (an NBC affiliate), channel 18, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. *Little Rock, Ark.: KTHV (a CBS affiliate), channel 11, Sunday, 9:30 a.m. *Nashville, Tenn.: WTVF (a CBS affiliate), channel 5, 11:30 a.m. *Pittsburgh, Pa.:WIIC, channel 11, Sunday, 11 a.m. In some cases we are breaking into new areas in which we have not been in some time, while in other cases we are simply improving our times or moving to a different station to, we hope, reach a new and wider audience!

MINISTERIAL AND CHURCH DEVELOPMENT As I mentioned in my most

recent co-worker letter regarding our new initiative in media, I have been tremendously inspired to see the new potential that can result from our efforts to produce a much higher "visibility" for God's Work. In addition to the media effort, we are also undertaking a new pilot study to stimulate more community awareness and recognition of the church at the "grass roots" level. In order to achieve this, both Art Mokarow and Robert Kuhn have recommended that we begin moving some of the functions of the Foundation's Human Potential Center directly under the Church. Specifically--the lectures, seminars, and community projects which would be open to direct church sponsorship. This change in structure will allow the Church to present the community and "good works" programs in an organized manner and increase its direct visibility. Just as the newsstand distribution program and Y.O.U. have been instrumental in bringing about more community involvement through our local congregations, so now will the Church itself become more involved by presenting seminars and doing other humanitarian community projects. (Our most recent seminar on "Family Enrichment" in Pasco, WA, attracted 120 new "outside" people and added over 50 to our mailing list--and Pasco has a population of only 20,000!) Mr. Art Mokarow will be responsible to handle this special pilot study and report directly to me. I strongly feel that the "church development" area is a necessary adjunct to "ministerial development.', When necessary and right, we will continue to use the Foundation as the sponsoring vehicle for these community programs, based partly, of course, on the input that you field ministers provide.

-3-

All church pastors who feel their area has the capacity and interest for this type of activity should contact Art Mokarow directly, and we will work back and coordinate the programs through Mr. Ron Dart and the Area Coordinators. --Garner Ted Armstrong PASTOR'S REPORT POLICY Because of a significant number of requests for the Pastor's Report from ministers who are not pastors of churches, and from non-ordained people, we feel it is necessary to restate and further clarify the policy regarding who should receive the report. The following is our statem:ant of purpose for the Pastor's Report: The weekly Pastor's Report is designed to provide all church pastors of the Worldwide Church of God with a medium by which they can receive late-breaking news of activities within the Church and its multifaceted worldwide Work. It provides the pastors and key people in top management positions in the Church and in Ambassador College with information regarding important developments quickly, systematically, accurately, and in advance of other church members, church and college employees and the general public. The Pastor's Report highlights the latest news in a succinct fashion which in turn is to be disseminated to the churches by the church pastors during the announcement portion of Sabbath services. It should be clear that the Pastor's Report is not solely for the personal use of the pastors of churches, but more importantly, for the purpose of disseminating news of the Work to the entire church. Therefore, the Pastor's Report is not to be construed as a "status symbol.''-", Other ministers who may qualify to receive the Pastor's Report should meet most of the following criteria: 1) Should be full time on the payroll of the Worldwide Church of God; 2) Should be taking the church 1/2 to 3/4 of the time when the assigned pastor is not there; 3) Should not be able to obtain a copy of the Pastor's Report from the pastor of his area in time to use it in services for the benefit of the.entire church. All additional names of those ministers who should receive the Pastor's Report, based on the above criteria, should be forwarded through the area co-ordinator to Mr. Ron Dart, or through the regional director to Mr. Les McCullough. We hope that the above has cleared up any questions our readers may have had. If anyone feels that further clarification is needed, then those in the U.S. ministry may write Mr. Ron Dart and those ministers in the International Division may contact Mr. Les McCullough. NEW REFERRAL PROGRAM As a part of the Work's continuing efforts to expand its outreach, Mr. Ted Armstrong recently approved the creation of a new "referral" program by Subscriber Development. This new program provides simple cards or coupons for people to send us names and addresses of friends and relatives whom they think will be genuinely interested in the Work's literature. (Records tend to indicate that quite a number of new members in recent years have come into the Church through "referral" -- by being introduced to

-4-

the Work through friends, some of whom are Church members). In less than two months we've received 30,000 names as a result of this program. We follow up by sending a specially prepared flyer/ card mailing which introduces these new people to various major aspects of the Work such as Messrs. Armstrong, the Worldwide Church of God, Ambassador College, AICF, the radio and television programs, booklets and other literature. Response thus.far has been ranging from 4% to 5% which, in a mailing effort to new names such as these, is considered excellent by the direct mail industry. The weekly mail picture is continuing to do well also. Although mail is down slightly from the past two weeks, it is still currently about 10% higher than last year at this time. --Richard Rice, Mail Processing WATS TELEPHONE TRANSFERS In order to provide the best service to the vast majority of our callers, we need to make a change regarding WATS telephone transfers, or "patches" as we call them. You have probably called during a busy period and heard an operator say, "I'm sorry, you came in on a line that cannot be transferred. Could you please call again in about 5 minutes?" This was because we only have the ability to "connect" the first three lines to other departments, and they have become increasingly busy during the week due to media activities. We will continue to transfer all incoming calls to Ministerial SerTS, as in the past. For all other departments, however, we will simply relay your message and have your calls returned. --Larry Nelson, Mail Processing Center AN INVITATION FROM Y.O.U. Our fourth National Basketball and Cheerleading finals are just a few weeks away (March 21-23) in Big Sandy. We invite any of you who happen to be in the area at the time to stop by and see some good basketball and enjoy an Ambassador prepared meal or two "on Y.O.U." If any of you have any college quality ball players who would be interested in getting in a couple of scrimmage games with our student assistants, have them come on down. The A.C. coaches will be there to watch them (and they will have scholarships available if the boy is good enough). However, all who do come will have to pay all their own expenses for the entire period, and will have to abide by air-tournament rules. Since space is limited, we need to have them give us a call if any are interested. Any boy showing up without a reservation will have to make his own housing arrangements. --Mike Blackwell, Y.O.U.
ON THE WORLD SCENE

7)

HEAL THYSELF, GERMANY TELLS AMERICA A couple of weeks ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal drew a complete blank from West German Chancellor Schmidt in his request to have the Germans inflate their economy a bit in order to take the strain off the plummeting dollar.

-5The Germans know by painful experience--their soaring inflation in the 1920's--just how disastrous inflation can be and are not about to embark on that road again. Then too, if the Germans pump air into their economy now, this will only send wage costs upward, which will be reflected in higher prices for German products. Fully 25% of German goods are exported and they are already being placed in a disadvantageous position relative to the declining prices of U.S. goods. The problem is not with Germany, or with Japan, it's right here in Washington. According to the lead editorial in the March 6, 1978 Business Week: "The U.S. is now out of step with /the7 international economy....in its effort to hustle the economy into expansion, it is risking higher rates of inflation....Because the U.S. is out of step, its balance-of-payments deficit is soaring and the dollar is being hammered down to record lows in international currency markets. "It is time for President Carter and his advisors to consider the possibility that the Germans are right and they are wrong. Instead of the artificial, inflationary growth generated by huge tax cuts and mounting deficits, orderly growth based on investment rather than consumption may be what the U.S. needs." The only way out of the quagmire is for America to come to its senses and tighten its belt. But is there any longer the collective character to do so? A recent poignent letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times hits this angle of the story hard: "The idea of asking West Germany to increase its inflation rate is probably the most ludicrous action yet offered by the Carter Administration. Because we have been profligate and have gotten ourselves into a mess we ask them to do likewise. How utterly ridiculous: "When the oil embargo hit us and the Arabs established prices devastating to our balance of trade, our inflationary affluent society went gaily along using more and more oil each year and bringing our dollar downward and downward to the lowest values ever. /By contrast the aggressive Germans, who have no oil of their own, have cut back on imports and actually sell more to OPEC than they bliy!7 "Our government leaders dream and refuse to accept reality. Their answer is bigger budgets and larger deficits. And we want West Germany to follow our lead. No way; they have already been there. If we are to survive we must do it on our own...The American people have been spoiled for too long." --Gene Hogberg, News Bureau LETTER COMJAENTS
Response to the STP A number of ministers have written to Dr. Kuhn ,---, commenting about various aspects of the Systematic Theology Project. " This week we are including several excerpts from these letters for your interest.

_6..
The STP project was a gigantic step forward in accoMplishing tasks and goals before us. It will help unify the ministry as never before in what we teach as a combined ministry and it will be a tremendous aid in actually carrying "official" church doctrine to our membership. --Jack Pyle, St. Louis, MO I hope you have been deluged with memos that let you know how greatly appreciated the Systematic Theology Project notebook is! I have already used the material for virtually every sermon since my return from the Conference, and, of course, there's plenty more to come. --Doug Johnson, Thunder Bay, Ont. Thanks so much for...the STP. I think it is a giant step forward for the church and it will be a fine tool for the field ministry. --Ron Lohr, Tampa FL I would like to extend my personal thanks for the tremendous effort expended on the STP. Everyone I'talked with agrees that it is the most important tool in bringing about the unification of the Ministry. --Vince Panella,Las Cruces- Roswell, N.M. This is a brief note to express my gratitude for the great effort undertaken to compile the Systematic Theology Project which, as I methodically wade through it, reveals an underlying attitude very similar to the one we find throughout God's Word; of conscientiously caring for the spirit as well as the letter of these doctrines. This work thus provides us with a comprehensive view of not only what the doctrines are, but equally important, how they are to be presented. A spirit of careful restraint pervades the entire project, always attemptint to guide one's outlook toward the middle of the road. --Mario Seiglie, San Diego, CA I have only perused the "Systematic Theology Project," but have carefully read the sections on tithing and healing. I am more than pleased to finally have such a fine and thorough manual of our fundamental beliefs. It is a demonstration of a tremendous number of hours of intensive work and effort. Yet I know that which is to come will be of equal quality. --Bryan Hoyt, Kansas City, MO I appreciate the "healing" paper and I feel it is a good effort toward proper understanding of such a complex subject. --Rand Millich, Elkhart Michigan City, MI Bravo! I am totally impressed with the healing portion of the most mature discussion of the topic ever written. Thanks for the multitude of sermon topics! --Judd Kirk, San Jose, CA
STP and all of the rest of the excerpts which I have read so far. I agree with the description of "mature." It appears to be the