Me smells a number of "favorable" articles re these "events" and the JWs over the next few months.
Maybe Board Activists should start sending this reporter and the editor info warning Tucson to keep an eye on their children during this same time period, i.e., CHESTER THE JW MOLESTER is in town.
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Jehovah's Witnesses due in Tucson for 5 weekends
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
About 38,000 Jehovah's Witnesses will be in Tucson over five weekends this summer, beginning today.
For the 27th summer, the denomination will hold a regional gathering in Tucson, the largest of the year for Southwestern congregations.
Jehovah's Witnesses from Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas will be at the Tucson Convention Center for the 2002 "Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers" gatherings. Three of the weekend programs will be in English, the other two in Spanish.
About 7,700 are expected at each weekend program. Organizers place their financial impact on the city well into the millions - this weekend alone, 5,500 hotel rooms have been booked by Jehovah's Witnesses for Friday and Saturday nights.
The programs include baptisms in a plastic swimming pool and a dramatization of the Book of Jeremiah. But organizers, with an aim at least in part toward dispelling misconceptions about their faith, invite the public to learn more about their religion, stressing that they are not trying to recruit members during the convention.
The Jehovah's Witness denomination was founded in Pittsburgh in 1872 by Charles Taze Russell, a former Congregationalist layman.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that they adhere to the oldest religion on Earth, the worship of Almighty God revealed in the Bible as Jehovah. They are perhaps best-known for going door to door to share their faith.
About 6,500 Jehovah's Witnesses live in Southern Arizona, including Tucson, according to local leaders.
The religion, which has grown in membership by 10 percent in the United States over the past decade, has about 950,000 U.S. members and 6 million worldwide.
This weekend's program is in English. The program begins at 9:30 a.m. today, Saturday and Sunday. All sessions are open to the public and free. The next two weekends, starting June 7, will be Spanish programs. And the final two gatherings - July 5-7 and July 12-14, will be in English.
* Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or at [email protected]
. http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20531JEHOVAHS2f2frjs-jmd.html