Declining Meeting Attendance-CO visit (page 6)

ValiantBoy

I recall giving a Public Talk at a hall in Texarkana. THe hall had been built in the 1980s and sat about 225 or or more. Once tha hall was built, the cong was split into two congs. But neither cong grew. So there were two congs, one with about 70 pubs and one with about 80. I gave a talk to the smaller cong in 1996. The meeting attendance was abyssmal (sp?). ANhow...we had 55 in attendance for my talk. So less than 25% of the seats were occuppied. It was very discouraging.

SInce then that hall has been remodeled. THe old corner platform was moved to being along one wall and the semi circle seating arrangement was replaces with straight rows. Seating was reduced to about 150. The whole back of the auditorium is now just an open space. The spin put on this is that it gives more room for fellowship...

brutusmaximus

Before the CO's visit we had an elders meeting and discuss who was inactive and might come along to boost the numbers a wee bit.

When he came we would also have a mini band playing the Kingdom songs (piano, violin, flute and me on the triangle)

BM

outoftheorg

Yeah I remember that 1953 Yankee stadium torture.

I was 17 drove family the all the way from San Diego Calif.

Got my pocket picked on the elevated train system.

Got sick on a very hot day drinking Dr. Pepper.

Can hardly remember the drive back.

Do remember stopping in a small town with a small river, to eat.

The calif. car license drew about 3 or 4 local teen age girls to the water.

Got to flirt with them a little until I was drug away from the "evil ones".

That flirting I do remember. About the only fun thing on the whole trip.

I recall a rather pathetic or funny event. Everyone had copies of the watchtower in their rear windows

so we would be noticed. At one of the stops there was this couple in their thirties, both jw's the lady started talking about how Jehovah delivers us from evil. Said she would like to see something go wrong on this trip just so she could see jehovah deliver them from satan.

Sure enough about 25 miles down the road they had an auto crash and she was walking around with this foolish smile on her face.

Even at 17 I knew she was crazy and said so. This pissed my mom off.

Isn't life interesting??

Outoftheorg

lilybird

I had forgotten about that .. outoftheorg... when everyone travelled to assemblies they put Watchtowers in their back windows so other witnesses could see them and also so they could witness to others as they drove. It is funny and yet pathetic isn't it???

bisous

98% BS

that sounds about right.

steve2

My mother, raised in the religion since the early 1930s, told me that their weekends were completely taken up with "kingdom" work. Along with her parents and five siblings, she would witness most of Saturday and Sundays in the morning. In the afternoons, they'd have the first of several meetings that would go on for longer than the officially alloted time...and no one complained! As the 1950s approached, meeting times were standardized but still demanding for older people and parents with children. Gosh, the younger generation have got it easy...and presumably we're closer to the end...

Declining Meeting Attendance-CO visit