Posts by traveb

69

Your Experience with Resigning as an Elder

by committeechairman in

i'm considering resigning as an elder.

i'm not planning to fade or stop as one of jehovah's witnesses, just stop serving as an elder.. i have responsibility in the congregation and in circuit, district, rbc, etc.

and i'm completely exhausted.

traveb

Resigning as an MS was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had tons of responsibilities and was obviously being groomed as an elder. There was no way I would be able to handle that amount of unpaid work. When it comes down to it, that's what "privileges" are - unpaid work for a magazine publishing & real estate holding company. Once you realize all you are doing is equivalent to:

Running on a treadmill

Keeping busy with busy work

Spinning along in a hamster wheel

Then it becomes so easy to drop all that nonsense. At first, it may be difficult to stop caring about what other JWs think of you. We all know that "keeping up appearances" is the most important think for JWs. Once you get over that mindset, it is so unbelievably freeing! You can finally do what's best for you and your family, and start enjoying life again.

84

BOE Letter: New Adjustments

by pixel in

**this was predicted from some members here**.

to all congregations .

re: adjustments in organizational terminology and assembly arrangements .

traveb

They should have also made the following changes:

Circuit Overseers --> Local Sales Managers

District Overseers --> Regional Sales Managers

95

The Judicial Committee videos in english

by confusedandalone in

jw
friends

not sure if this has been posted but the jwsurvey site received the videos in english from someone.. this crap is pathetic to watch.

how to counsel someone who is suicidal... really.

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/doubts-over-organizational-solidarity-as-disturbing-video-on-handling-suicide-is-leaked.

traveb

That was extremely uncomfortable to watch. I suppose the best result from watching these videos was that it reinforced my decision to never attend a judicial committee if I'm ever called before one. Who needs to be jerked around emotionally like that?

35

2013 Publisher Statistics now available from 2014 Yearbook.

by jwfacts in

the 2014 yearbook is out, and i have scanned the publisher figures into a more readable format at 2013 service year report.

i have updated some of the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php and will do the rest tonight.

there are no real surprises, with very similar results as during the last couple of years.

traveb

It's interesting that during the 80's and through the mid 90's, the average amount of hours it took per baptism hovered around 3000. Then, starting in the late 90's, the average greatly increased, to almost 7000 now.

34

A radical direction for the WTS - speculation thread.

by besty in

what might the wts do to counteract growth stagnation and attrition?.

of course they could ditch certain teachings and practices such as blood, shunning and homophobia.. how about if they closed the kingdom hall network (all proceeds back to mothership) and built out more regional mega-churches?

<assembly halls>.

traveb

I also agree with the idea that there will be more frequent broadcasts from headquarters. The WT invested a lot of money and time rolling out the equipment to hundreds (thousands?) of KH's the past year. They will continue to do this until most KH's have been upgraded. Then you can have a situation where instead of having to sit through local Bro. Terrible Speaker's public talk on Sunday, you get to watch a broadcast of a GB member giving a talk. The average JW will be "thrilled".

82

British zone visit from David Splane - a report from the special meeting in Glasgow

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

well i went to a "special meeting" in the armadillo today where a 2 & 1/2 hour programme was relayed from london at 1pm.

apparently the letters of invitation only went out a month or so ago and not all congregations were invited.

there were 2,900 of us from around scotland.

traveb

Thanks for the report slimboyfat, was very interesting. I don't know if the "Peanuts" comic strip was ever popular in Britain but your description of the girl you knew from a long time ago reminded me of Charlie Brown and his "red-haired girl".

108

July 15th Study Edition Is Up..

by confusedteenager in

jw
friends

not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but yeah.

they just posted up the new watchtower...with the confusing new information.. time for me to go dive into this "new light" and try to see what sense it makes.

of course cedars already nicely did a run down for us.. .

traveb

One thing that made me laugh out loud (hopefully it hasn't already been mentioned):

Page 12, paragraph 8

During 1915 and 1916, opposition from outside the organization
slowed down the preaching work. Worse, after Brother Russell’s death in
October 1916, opposition arose from inside the organization. Four of the seven
directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society rebelled against the decision
to have Brother Rutherford take the lead. They tried to cause division among
the brothers, but in August 1917, they left Bethel—a cleansing indeed!

Hmm, let me see...4 out 7 directors "rebelled". Isn't that we in the real world call a majority?

109

San Francisco or Bay Area Members?

by nibbled in

jw
friends

i did a search and came up with some posts related to san francisco, but i couldn't figure out how to find more recent onesthey were from nearly a dozen years ago!

i was wondering if anyone lives around sf, as well as if anyone is around my age?

i'm early 30's.

traveb

My wife and I are in our 30's and live in the south bay and were both "born in". At this point we just do the minimum to keep our families happy and the elders off our backs. As for our beliefs, I'm not so sure. Somedays I believe in God and sometimes I don't .

9

30 Hour Aux. Pioneering ... 2 or 3 times per year

by RubaDub in

am i understanding this correctly?

you can do the 30 hour package either 2 or 3 times per year, depending on when the circuit overseer visits.

here is the way i get the new rules:.

traveb

The way I read it is theoretically you could do the 30-hour thing a maximum of 6 times of year. According to the letter, the 30-hour rule applies...

During March AND April every year

When your congregation receives its regular CO visit

So if by chance both of your CO visits don't fall on March or April AND each visit happens to be spread out over two calendar months, then you could do 30 hours 6 times! Conversely, the minimum times it could happen would be 3. So, every year a publisher could aux. pioneer for 30 hours between 3 and 6 times depending on their congregation's CO schedule.

Seems like a headache to keep track of!

Imagine this scenario:

Service Overseer: Brother, I see you only got 30 hours when you auxillary pioneered in February. What happened?

Publisher: Don't you remember? This year was a leap year so there was an extra day in February. The last day of February was the first day of the CO visit. I thought we could put in only 30 hours if the CO was visiting.

Service Overseer: Oh right. (Shakes head and starts talking to himself.)

25

Do JWs Really Still care about the "Truth"?

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

i often read posts on here citing some km school or wt article and the comment that "now they are tightening their grip" or "they will now go after faders" etc, etc.

my perception is that the vast majority of jws, including the elders, are suffering from apathy and fatigue.

most simply don't care anymore.

traveb

It's a mix in my local congregation. Many are what I call "social JW's" like me, others are more hard-core.

Ask the average JW to explain to you the current "generation" teaching and look for the deer in the headlights look. It's great!