Some thoughts on the new midweek meeting

by Saltheart Foamfollower 55 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Nicholaus Kopernicus

  The Awake of June 2010 in an article about "Keeping Stress Under Control" had this sage advice....

  "God expects us humbly to acknowledge that we have physical, mental, and emotional limits and that we cannot do everything we would like to do. As difficult as this can be, we may need to learn when and how to say no to demands that exceed what we realistically can handle."

  
  

  A scripture which I shared with the worried father of an elder who was being over worked by the WTBTS / IBSA and had a nasty coronary is...

  Micah 6:8 - "He has told you, O man, what is good. And what is Jehovah requiring of you? Only to exercise justice, to cherish loyalty, And to walk in modesty with your God!"

  
  So the WTBTS's demands on your dad and many Bro's may be seen as quite unreasonbable when compared with that Awake and scripture!.
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  JW GoneBad

  What is it with the 3 minutes of opening comments highlighting what the CLAM meeting will be about and then at the end of the program...3 minutes of concluding comments reviewing what the CLAM meeting was about? It is a pointless, needless and unproductive use of 6 minutes!
• 

  10thplague

  Oh my, how I hate the new format! The meetings are just chaos now, period! There are new songs that are download only, so a lot of people just kinda... stand around awkwardly. Went to the first new format this past week. It was bad.
• 

  Listener

  I am wondering about the video presentations and whether they are voiced over depending on which country they are being presented in. When showing them in Australia or the UK, do they retain the original American accents?
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  janusfulcrum

  I was watching the lips of the shadow people giving the presentations (for those who haven't seen them, these people are, well, shadowy, in the dark, so you can't make out any features). They seemed to match the words being spoken, which means the presentations must be made for every language.
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  ivanatahan

  I am wondering about the video presentations and whether they are voiced over depending on which country they are being presented in. When showing them in Australia or the UK, do they retain the original American accents?
  

  As far as I can tell, the foreign language presentations have a voice over, but fortunately you don't hear the English in the background since it's removed. As for whether they voice over in account for accents, I think, knowing how cheap the WTS is, it's unlikely.
• 

  Dagney

  I'm so glad you posted about this.

  I just talked with my brother who told me he is the chairman, and wondered if I was aware of the new meeting arrangement. I didn't know what he meant by "chairman", and I certainly was NOT going to ask for any information. I just said I was aware and that any change that would make it easier on the brothers was good, and that with technology advancements, it makes sense to use them. Of course he said he was excited about the arrangement...but you know...whatever.

  So I was wondering what other people thought about it. Good timing. Thanks for the OP.
• 

  Nicholaus Kopernicus

  Hi Listener:

  When the videos were used here in Britain last week, the voices were of an American accent. With less personel in Bethels, I don't expect to hear British accents or any other foirm of cultural sensitivities. Economy is probably now key as alluded to by Ivanatahan.

  The choice of vocabulary didn't sit well in my congregation. For example, the question "Do you text?" got a response of laughter from the audience. Just not used to this direct USA Bethel ingress to UK congregation!
• 

  OverlappingGeneralizations

  Somebody told me that in their congregation, the local needs part was about the new format- And that all 3 demo parts are to flow together. So not only do the publishers have to concoct their own demo, they have to call the other pubs who have demos that night and make sure they all flow together! How's that supposed to work? What about when somebody doesn't show up? What a logistical nightmare.
  

  The whole thing is a stressful trainwreck. I absolutely hate it.

  Our hall was one of the 'lucky' ones to host the annual meeting, so we were set up with an expensive projector system. Now when we have to play a video, the brothers have to rush up to the stage, and clear everything EVERYTHING out of the way of the screen. For a 2-minute BS video. Then rush back up and put it all back. What a colossal waste. Those stupid silhouette videos don't even need to be seen! Why can't they just play them over the speakers, there's nothing to see! Lemme close my eyes and guess what's happening- a frumpy sister with limited vocabulary is giving a magazine to a fictional householder who actually let her finish a presentation? Wait, was I right?...
  

  Our elder body is very old, and I feel sorry for them having to work so hard. Doesn't the bOrg see that no young people are stepping up? And seeing how punishing the schedule is for the older ones is certainly going to scare them off even faster.

  
  Way to make that 'load lighter and more kindly'...
• 

  sir82

  It is a pointless, needless and unproductive use of xxx6minutesxxx an entire evening!

  Fixed that for ya.