I was a publisher from age 7 to age 39. Had some studies, and one I found door-to-door came CLOSE to coming in. Then I moved to another hall, and the person who took over the study left the JW's shortly thereafter. So...thankfully, the answer is NO.
Did you ever actually make a JW convert from the door-to-door work?
by True North 34 Replies latest jw friends
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Undecided
Too many. I went over to the quick build and saw so many that I was responsible for them being there. I still love them but feel sorry that I was responsible for their conversion. They seem to still care for me too. We talked and I got some hugs from them. The only ones that I don't like are the "faithful and discreet slave" class who controll their lives.
Ken P.
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outoftheorg
IN MY LIFETIME OF DOOR TO DOOR WORK ( 40 + ) YEARS ,I ONLY HAD TWO STUDIES, NEITHER OF WHICH BECAME BAPTIZED.
THANKFULLY THAT IS ONE AREA IN WHICH I HAVE NO FEELINGS OF GUILT.
THIS MAY BE DUE TO, MY FEELING VERY UNCOMFORTABLE, TRYING TO TEACH ANOTHER ADULT TO CHANGE TO MY RELIGION.
AFTER ALL THIS WOULD INVOLVE BELITTLING THEIR BELIEFS AND IN A WAY QUESTIONING THEIR INTELLIGENCE
IN BOTH CASES IT WAS A WIFE WHO WANTED TO BE OR WAS ALREADY A JW AND THEY ASKED ME "THE ELDER" TO TALK TO AND TRY TO HAVE A STUDY WITH THEIR HUBBYS.
Outoftheorg
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Elmer J. Fudd
Yes I did. Sad but true.........Lonny and his family effected me the most. I've been looking for him for over 30 years to say I'm sorry.One day I will find them.
Elmer
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Dogpatch
I converted my girlfriend, my mother and sister and brother-in-law, but by my talking to them (not door-to-door). When I left in 1981 I ended up talking all of them out of it fortunately, except for my girlfriend, who had already married since she didn't want to wait four years for me to get out of Bethel. She never contacted me back. :-))
When I was "special pioneering" in San Luis Obispo for 6 months before going to Bethel, I got about 6 young people into the WT, as I covered the entire town in six months and had a few studies. I helped get three of them out later, and one got out and told me years later he was now out. That leaves 2 I think unaccounted for. In Brooklyn I never succeeded in getting anyone into it that I can remember.
Randy Watters
my story:
http://www.freeminds.org/history/watters.htm
Net Soup!
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cbew
Yes, unfortunately I got two people from the door to door work baptised. One went on to become an elder and the other I lost contact with after he moved away. After I left I tried to talk with the one who became an elder but was unsuccessful in opening his mind. I did manage to get two others out though when I left. One was already beginning to have doubts and all it took was a gentle push in the right direction for more information. The other was a very close friend and I was able to speak candidly with him. Once he saw the info. about the UN and Jimmy Swaggart that opened his eyes wide open and eventually helped him come out.
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Brymichmom
When I was a teenaged "pioneer", one of the elders wives brought to me another student (a couple years younger than me at the time) from my high school who had family in the JW's. They asked me to "study" with her. She got baptized, and I left the WT a few years later. Several years after I left the WT organization, I had found out that she had been in a very abusive marriage and had a daughter. But sadly, she passed away very young leaving her daughter in the hand of this abusive husband. I believe she had some kind of cancer or a brain tumor. It was quite sad when I heard about it. She would have been the one person that I would have tried to get out, as my family would not listen to me. So no, I never "converted" anyone by finding someone door to door. Only this poor young girl, rest her soul.
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Undaunted Danny
I started out in the baby carriage/diapers with my pioneer parents in 1957.I know for a fact that my dad 'brought in' over 40 familys. Myself,I struck gold once that I know of.The recruitee was,'stolen' from me by a jealous MS from the Rockland Massachusetts Kingdom hall. Ever had that happen to you??Get your RV or Study convert,coveted from you. In the end,after 33 years of door to door recruiting I got 'voted off the island' because i didn't sell enough Watchtowers: Read his story in the Maine Times [text version]
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funkyderek
A lot of people who have posted on this thread seem to have spent years preaching without converting anybody (as did I). Surely that can't be normal, I thought. Perhaps it's because we're all apostates and were never really strong in The Truth?. So I tried to find out how representative a sample we are.
Annual statistics to August 2003 according to http://www.jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm
Total volunteer hours spent in public Bible educational work
1.2 billion
Practicing members*
6,429,351
New members baptized
258,845
Dividing the hours (1,200,000,000,000) by the number of baptisms (258,845) gives an average of around 4,635 hours preaching per baptism.
Each "practicing member" spends an average of 186.6 "volunteer hours" per year (1.2 billion divided by 6,429,351) "in public Bible educational work". This means it takes almost 25 "publisher years" to make one convert (4635 divided by 186.6); so the anecdotal evidence provided here doesn't seem too far off the mark.
25 years to bring in one new member. Truly, Jehober is blessing his people
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Undaunted Danny
Jehovah's Witnesses and Nepotism. In my nearly a half century of exposure to Jehovah's Witnesses.I have observed that the membership of any given congregation to be composed of about + - 50% blood kin. Isn't this a form of spiritual incest ? [ family favoritism by God ] Note Jesus words at John 6:44+65 "No one can come to me unless the Father first enables him".OR as another translation reads," no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father and the Father first draws him to me." The above passage would seem to preclude any nepotism. Moreover,it would seem that all Christians must be individually consecrated and hand picked by God himself. Question to board members: what have been your findings as to the ratio of blood kin family members?Example; my Haszard clan is 4 generations of JW's,because my grandfather converted in 1952.I don't think we are all destined to be saved because of his conversion. This is an issue that had always stumbled me since I was a small child.Why did my clan deserve to live and my worldly schoolmates have to die?