Building Kingdom Halls; Destroying Lives

freedomfu

This church wasn't built in a day ...
it took almost a week By Rich Brown
Globe Staff Writer 1/7/06
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Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was the newest Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Joplin.
That took almost a week.
Last Sunday was not only the first day of the year, but also the first day of services for the new church, where construction began Dec. 27.
“The whole objective was to finish for the New Year’s Day services,” said Tim Adkins, presiding overseer of the east Joplin congregation.
The new church, at 2500 S. County Lane, is south of East 20th Street just before the Highway 249 overpass.
Jehovah’s Witnesses churches have gained a reputation for being built in such a short time by skilled laborers from their congregations.
“We had about 400 people, coming and going, involved in our project,” Adkins said. “We had not only local (people) but workers from all over, what we refer to as, our region.”
There are two regional building committees in Missouri.
“We are the western half of the state, covering part of Iowa and down to the Arkansas line,” he said. “The eastern half covers all the northern boundary of Missouri to the southern boundary.”
He added that many of the workers on the church came from the Kansas City area and Springfield.
“Members of our congregations have special trades, such as drywalling or plumbing, and this is what they do for a living,” Adkins said. “When we schedule this, they take time from their businesses to come and use their skills on a voluntary basis.”
He added that, with no labor expenses, churches are built with just the cost of materials.
Church members provide workers at the site with food and drink and open their homes for lodging if necessary.
“The cooperation we have had from the Joplin community has helped us complete the project in a timely fashion,” Adkins said.
He praised dealings with the electric and water companies, in addition to local vendors.
“We got help from lumber yards and all those we relied upon to get our materials in quick fashion because of how we do our project,” Adkins said.
The new church, with 5,500 square feet, will seat around 275 people, he estimated.
“We typically plan five to six days to build a church,” he said.
The time varies according to the size of the building.

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Comments

Brenda Lee writes:
"Did you know that Jehovah's Witnesses use their prized kingdom halls to house pedophiles? They have an organizational "rule" that no child is to be believed if they say they were sexually abused unless there are at least two witnesses to the abuse. How many times does a child have someone standing there observing them as they are being abused? Thousands of people have come forward in recent years to say they were the victims of child abuse at the hands of Jehovah's Witnesses. Dateline and the BBC have done special segments on this. Also, did you know that Jehovah's Witnesses shun (i.e., never speak to again!) family members who leave their faith? My family hasn't spoken to me in 25 years! My sin? I didn't want to be a Jehovah's Witness anymore. I am one of millions of people being psychologically abused by this cult. (Yet they call themselves loving Christians.) Jehovah’s Witnesses are like onions. After you pull back the protective layer that they want you to see, you find things that most people in the world know nothing about. Everyone deserves to know the truth lest they innocently become JW victims themselves by thinking, "Oh, what a nice group of people. Maybe I'll talk to them the next time they come to my door." Brenda Lee, "Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman's Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult" www.outofthecocoon.net "

willyloman

Good on Brenda Lee for clicking on the newspaper's "comment on this story" button and telling her story, briefly and powerfully (and providing a website for followup). This is precisely the kind of work someone should organize so that every time there is a pro-jw puff piece in any newspaper in the world, a carefully crafted response (as opposed to a from-the-hip lunatic rant) is sent to the paper. When I retire, if no one else has done it yet, that's my goal.

luna2

"The whole objective was to finish for the New Year’s Day services"

Should that be the "whole objective" when you build something? Granted, this KH took a week to put up instead of a weekend so perhaps they were able to do a better job, but many of the three-day KH's are plagued with mold and other problems caused by the big hurry to finish on time. The purpose appears to be not to put up a well-constructed building but to create publicity in the neighborhood for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Very much enjoyed Brenda Lee's comments about Jehovah's Witnesses too. Good idea to let the air out of their little propaganda balloon by attaching some unattractive truths about this religion to the story.

sf

The cooperation we have had from the Joplin community has helped us complete the project

This is a real knee-slapper here. Think about this statement a moment.

Joplin community is one of many communities that will die at Armageddon too. Too bad they think the jws really care about their co-operation. If they only knew the truth about what goes on in there and what is taught about worldly communities/ people. How hate is fostered there and lives destroyed thusly.

How dare they summons they very community that they teach will be destroyed, along with thousands of other communities. See, the problem is that the world thinks that their local jws give a rats ass about them and their spirituality.

Like I said yesterday, their masks do not impress me. Jws are extremely transparent...IF you know what you are looking at!

sKally

AlmostAtheist

>>“The whole objective was to finish for the New Year’s Day services,” said Tim Adkins, presiding overseer of the east Joplin congregation.

WTF? "New Year's Day services"? I've only been out a year and a half, but I wouldn't think they'd've swung far enough to be using phrases like that. Am I understanding it out of context?

I wonder how their "Easter Services" will go...

Dave

greendawn

Those idiots are constructing buildings for the WTS, as far as I know even if the land and building materials were paid for by the local dubs the WTS gets the title deed so they have the legal ownership.

Then it will be a mind conditioning centre where they will get ever more hopelessly entangled in the nets of the FDS.

Forscher

For years they used to say that only they could do it like that because they had the holy spirit and nobody else did. I wonder what they say now with extreme home makeover on every Sunday?
Forscher

DaCheech

Extreme Bethel Makeover: Apostate infiltration in Quick build fashion

willyloman

Jws are extremely transparent...IF you know what you are looking at!

sKally: I had the same thought; these guys are trained to be PR-conscious when they talk to the news media. Thus the statement praising the community for their "support," which makes it seem as if:

1. The community supports JWs and their work in its entirety.

2. The dubs are a genuine part of their community.

Was his reference to the worldy "community" holiday (New Year's) also an attempt to assimilate the dubs?

I had the job of speaking to news media at quick builds and I can tell you I worked very hard with reporters to make us seem like regular folks.

Virgogirl

We typically plan five to six days to build a church" he said. THey actually called a Kinkdumb Hell a CHURCH? They really are trying hard to stroke the public!

Building Kingdom Halls; Destroying Lives

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