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Aug. 21, 1953
Dear Co-Workers:
I have to call on you now to join me in asking God for a
near-miracle! Nothing short of that, it seems now, will solve our
emergency.
But first, from the very bottom of my heart I want to
THANK you dear loyal self-sacrificing Co-Workers for standing so
unselfishly and dependably with me through this past summer. I
know that many of you have done almost more than you could for
God's great work. And God's greatest blessing is on His work. It
is prospering and growing mightily. Still it seems our best
efforts are hardly enough to keep up with the necessary growth God
is granting us.
Our short summer is over. College starts on the
Ambassador campus NEXT MONDAY, August 24th. The largest freshman
class so far is on the way to Pasadena---some already have arrived.
My, I don't know how we are going to provide for all of them. We
are fast outgrowing our facilities here at the college. We are no
longer the smallest college in America. The college is growing
rapidly---but not rapidly enough to provide the needed laborers for
God's harvest!
Two of our three baptizing teams have returned, with a
big harvest of precious lives for God's Kingdom. One of them went
clear to the Atlantic coast baptizing people whose whole lives have
been CHANGED. The third team is still out, but expected back in a
few days. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Marion McNair, who have spent
the summer at Oregon State Normal School making final preparations
for opening our own first primary school in the Tabernacle at
Gladewater, having finished their summer course of studies, are out
on a baptizing tour in Oregon and Washington, with some 40 people
awaiting baptism---all this in addition to the other three teams.
I have just returned from a quick one-day trip by plane
to the big Tabernacle near Gladewater, Texas. It is now TWICE as
big as last time I saw it---now 105 feet in width. The foundation
is laid for the room which is to serve as combination dining-
school-church room. No part of the structure is completed as yet,
but the roof is being laid over the wings of the main auditorium,
and, even though unfinished, the school room MUST be put up before
the Feast of Tabernacles or we will have no way to feed the people.
The ground is now cleared for the building of the little booths to
serve as sleeping quarters for the people who attend.
BUT---and read this carefully! Here is where we need a
near-miracle! Unless we raise our voices in united earnest and
believing prayer for God to move on many hearts who are able to
send large sums for this purpose, we will not be able to erect any
housing facilities for the hundreds who are coming!
It is going to take every dollar we can normally expect
to raise for the Tabernacle fund just to get the big Tabernacle
itself far enough along to permit holding services, and to feed
those attending. It will not be possible to finish the Tabernacle.
We will not even start the building of the great lounge room at the
front of the building, which also is to serve as a dining room. We
may not even be able to get the sides built on the large
auditorium. But we shall make every effort to have the big
building in rough shape so that we shall have a roof over our heads
for the meetings and for eating, even though we shall have to clear
the chairs in the auditorium and set up tables and eat in the same
room in which the services are held.
While over there on the Tabernacle grounds the other day
I made plans for building at least two or three of the little
sleeping booths---just to show those who attend what they are to be
like.
But now let me explain our big emergency problem. As I
stated in my last letter, if we do not have our own sleeping
accommodations built, even 700 people attending and having to go to
various cabins, auto courts and motels up and down the highway will
pay out to those motels about $10,000 in cabin and motel rent
during the eight days. But now it appears there will be more than
700---perhaps 900 or 1,000 people coming. And that means that we
shall lose about $12,500 paid out in auto-court rents which could
be paid in on the cost of this housing. IF we only had the money
to build the housing BEFORE the Festival.
There is still time to build our own housing IF we had
the money. The contractor says he could put on a large crew of men
and get it done fast. But our Tabernacle grounds and everything on
them are CLEAR---PAID FOR---there is no mortgage, and WE INTEND TO
KEEP IT THAT WAY. We have designed absolutely the LEAST expensive
type of sleeping cabins that could be built. There will be two
sizes, most of them little 8 x 12 sleeping booths, some with two
double-deck bunks for four people, others with one double-bed or
bunk, and one double-deck bunk. These will accommodate two, three,
or four people. There will be no windows---but a screened-in
ventilated space all around the top. There will be only an
electric light---no plumbing at all. Then there will be small
quonset-huts, in which 5 or 6 people may sleep. There will be a
men's and women's sanitary building, each containing sufficient
wash bowls, toilets and shower-baths to accommodate a housing
district of 400 people. There will be a small laundry room with
washing machines, wash trays and ironing boards. Each housing
district, built to accommodate about 400 people, will cost,
according to best estimates, somewhere near $40,000. But of course
that is a lot of little houses, and a lot of people! We should
need two such housing districts to accommodate all the people we
expect at this Festival. That would cost upward of $80,000. It
just isn't possible, unless there should be one or two among our
Co-Workers who would advance a large sum and give us from one to
three years to repay, without security and in faith in the work of
God. That, of course, would allow us to collect some $10,000 or
$12,000 in rentals that otherwise would be paid to the highway
auto-court owners, which could then apply on this building cost.
Including the Passover and the Pentecost Festivals, we could take
in close to $20,000 per year rentals to pay off this building cost,
IF we had the housing districts built. That means that the rentals
would pay for the cost of construction, and retire the
indebtedness, in from four to six years. Anyone familiar with
loans and investments and real estate and business operations will
know that that would be a very sound operation, indeed.
Now Brethren and Co-Workers, that is the near-miracle we
need. I feel that we could agree to pay off any loan for this
housing construction at the rate of $20,000 per year, IN ADDITION
to whatever rentals are taken in, which ought to be about $20,000
per year if we build the entire two districts, or a little more
than half that if we build only one.
But in any event, I need to call upon EVERY CO-WORKER---
yes, EVERY ONE of you---to stand with us now as NEVER BEFORE, with
regular tithes and special generous offerings as often, and as
large, as you are able. Send all you possibly can for the
TABERNACLE FUND, so we may at least get it far enough along so we
can hold the Festival there, even though it will be altogether
unfinished.
Also, with the college year starting next Monday,
additional expenditures are necessary here at the college. We have
the largest incoming class so far---25 new students have already
been notified of acceptance of their applications, and I know a few
more whose applications apparently were not in. We have now
entirely outgrown our facilities. BUT THE COLLEGE IS TURNING OUT
FINE AND CAPABLE CALLED MINISTERS to help me reap the great harvest
God is blessing us with.
Also, it appears now we have an opportunity to go on the
powerful ABC radio net-work on the West Coast, and perhaps by next
year the entire net-work Coast to Coast. On September 2nd, we go
to a far better NIGHT time on Radio Luxembourg reaching Britain and
all Europe, and in addition the new broadcast in the FRENCH
language, by my son Richard D. Armstrong, starts over Radio
Luxembourg on that date. Beside that, short-wave stations reaching
around the ENTIRE WORLD are now available, and going on the ABC
net-work stations ALSO OPENS UP TELEVISION for us.
Yes, truly the original identical GOSPEL JESUS PREACHED
is once again going AROUND THE WORLD. God is opening opportunities
---providing a harvest of souls---faster and bigger than we have
laborers (both as trained ministers, and as finance---laborers,
supporting the work with tithes and offerings) to reap the harvest.
TRULY THE HARVEST IS GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS FEW. PRAY, AS JESUS
COMMANDED, FOR GOD TO SEND FORTH MORE LABORERS---those supplying
the day-to-day and week-to-week finances, as well as God-called,
trained and consecrated ministers.
THANK YOU, dear Co-Workers for your regular and loyal and
generous part in this great work of God. We must PRESS ON as never
before! GOD BLESS YOU!
Sincerely, in Jesus' name,
Herbert W. Armstrong
P.S.
ABOUT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES: Since we cannot have our own
housing facilities provided for this Festival, unless God by a
miracle makes a large sum of money available, (in which case I will
notify you by letter), I must now give you instructions as to
housing. Most of you will have to find an auto court or motel
along the Highway---Highway 80. There are two or three of these
near Gladewater, about 9 miles east of the Tabernacle. There are
more between Gladewater and Longview, farther east. There are a
large number of motels and courts in and near Longview. Rates
vary---from inexpensive courts up to luxurious new motels. Then
there is the Longview Hotel. There is also a hotel at Big Sandy,
only two miles west of Tabernacle---old and not of good appearance,
but I am informed it is kept clean in the rooms. A limited number
may bring trailer-houses or tents, but DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU
WRITE AND GET WRITTEN RESERVATION FROM US, as we are definitely
limited on toilet, bath, and wash-room accommodations. The rest-
rooms already built in the Tabernacle will accommodate a limited
number, and up to this number first to apply will get the
reservations. We have plenty of space, but not enough sanitary
facilities. CAUTION: While God commands every child of His to
attend the Festival of Tabernacles, it is for God's people ONLY.
It is NOT a place to bring the unconverted in the hope of getting
them "interested." ONLY members of the Church of God and
Co-Workers whose hearts are in this work and those in HARMONY with
God's Truth as you hear it on The WORLD TOMORROW broadcast and read
it in our publications should come, but where it is desirable to
bring some other member of your own family, not a member or
co-worker, they will certainly be made warmly welcome provided they
are not antagonistic toward the Truth as we preach it.
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