00:00:07 You know I’ve had an illness,
00:00:09 but I’m getting along all right.
00:00:15 There’s a little tumor here in the brain,
00:00:20 which the doctors are treating.
00:00:24 And whatever comes, one way or the other,
00:00:31 well, it has been wonderful to work with you all these years,
00:00:37 and I enjoyed it tremendously.
00:00:39 And I’m very grateful to Jehovah
00:00:42 I could come to this meeting
00:00:45 and be with you.
00:01:01 Like C. T. Russell before him,
00:01:03 Brother Knorr had an exceptional gift
00:01:05 for organizing the Kingdom work.
00:01:08 That set the stage for the amazing growth
00:01:11 that the organization experienced during the closing decades
00:01:14 of the 20th century.
00:01:16 Nathan Knorr died on June 8, 1977.
00:01:21 Note what Brother Albert Schroeder,
00:01:23 a fellow member of the Governing Body,
00:01:25 wrote about him:
00:01:26 “As the Society’s principal administrator,
00:01:29 “there have come to be over 90 branches.
00:01:32 “Brother Knorr has proved to be
00:01:34 “the right theocratic entrepreneur
00:01:36 for this period of Jehovah’s Kingdom work.”
00:01:41 Brother Knorr helped to clarify the role
00:01:44 of the Governing Body and its committees.
00:01:46 Headquarters representatives
00:01:48 were sent out to various branches,
00:01:51 branches were better organized,
00:01:53 bodies of elders were appointed
00:01:55 in various congregations,
00:01:58 training programs were instituted,
00:02:00 and schools were established.
00:02:03 Because of the organizational growth,
00:02:05 the number of conventions
00:02:06 being held worldwide
00:02:08 now numbered into the hundreds,
00:02:10 and the Governing Body members
00:02:12 wanted to be present
00:02:13 at as many of those conventions as possible.
00:02:16 For example,
00:02:17 at the 1969 “Peace on Earth” International Convention,
00:02:20 a Governing Body member
00:02:22 would fly to the convention city
00:02:23 for the opening day,
00:02:25 catch a flight to another convention city,
00:02:28 and then return to the original city
00:02:30 so that he could speak on the closing day.
00:02:33 In the 1970’s and 1980’s,
00:02:35 many existing branches
00:02:37 with printing and shipping capabilities
00:02:39 needed to expand to ensure
00:02:41 that the worldwide supply of spiritual food
00:02:43 would flow uninterrupted
00:02:45 no matter what happened on the world scene.
00:02:48 At times,
00:02:49 there were more than 20 branch construction
00:02:51 or expansion projects
00:02:53 going on simultaneously.
00:02:54 And the Governing Body
00:02:56 was very interested in each one
00:02:58 and eager to dedicate
00:02:59 the new facilities once completed.
00:03:03 For me, it was always very encouraging
00:03:07 to have contact with the brothers of the Governing Body,
00:03:11 to see their great zeal
00:03:13 and their loving interests
00:03:15 in the brothers behind the Iron Curtain.
00:03:19 In 1977,
00:03:21 something outstanding happened.
00:03:24 In 1977,
00:03:27 it was possible
00:03:29 for Brothers Jaracz, Franz, and Sydlik
00:03:33 to visit the brothers in Poland.
00:03:36 So that was the first time
00:03:38 —the first time—
00:03:40 that members of the Governing Body
00:03:42 could visit the country
00:03:44 behind the Iron Curtain.
00:03:46 They spoke to many overseers,
00:03:49 pioneers, and longtime Witnesses.
00:03:53 That was, of course, a wonderful experience.
00:03:56 One year after this visit,
00:03:58 Brother Jaracz along with Brother Henschel
00:04:00 were able to get an appointment with government officials
00:04:03 to promote a more tolerant attitude of Jehovah’s organization
00:04:08 and the work that Jehovah’s Witnesses were doing
00:04:10 in Eastern Europe and especially in Poland.
00:04:13 Now, mind you, this was all taking place
00:04:15 some ten years prior
00:04:17 to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.
00:04:21 They took various steps
00:04:23 to meet with the local brothers in person.
00:04:26 And Brother Barry of the Governing Body
00:04:27 had the opportunity to hold a secret meeting
00:04:30 in the city of Leningrad with Brother Kose,
00:04:33 who was responsible for the activity in the territory.
00:04:35 Brother Kose said that he received
00:04:37 tremendous encouragement from that discussion,
00:04:40 from the conversation with Brother Barry.
00:04:43 And it was interesting that it wasn’t until after that meeting
00:04:47 that Brother Kose found out that he had been talking
00:04:50 to a member of the Governing Body.
00:04:53 The brothers in Eastern Europe
00:04:54 really needed help to resist
00:04:56 decades of satanic efforts
00:04:58 to destroy their faith in Jehovah
00:05:00 and weaken the unity and confidence in His organization.
00:05:04 The members of the Governing Body
00:05:07 showed very deep appreciation
00:05:09 for the brothers
00:05:11 who kept the communication
00:05:14 with the brothers behind the Iron Curtain.
00:05:16 Because you have to imagine
00:05:18 that to get the spiritual food there,
00:05:22 they had to be willing to take a personal risk
00:05:26 to visit
00:05:28 and to bring the spiritual food to the brothers there,
00:05:32 not just to the countries right close
00:05:36 but down there to the brothers
00:05:39 —down there to Siberia.
00:05:42 In the second half of the 1980’s,
00:05:45 the Iron Curtain began to open up.
00:05:49 There was a sense of freedom in the air.
00:05:52 The brothers in Eastern Europe could feel that freedom.
00:05:56 As governments granted permission,
00:05:58 the Governing Body organized
00:06:00 conventions in Eastern-bloc countries
00:06:04 —for example, in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
00:06:08 And when bans were lifted,
00:06:10 the members of the Governing Body
00:06:12 traveled many times to all the countries that were possible
00:06:17 —Poland, Hungary, Romania,
00:06:19 Czechoslovakia, Russia, Ukraine,
00:06:22 and to the Baltic States,
00:06:24 and also to Belarus.
00:06:27 In November 1989,
00:06:29 the Berlin Wall came down.
00:06:31 Well, this was a great turning point
00:06:33 in the history of the 20th century.
00:06:35 But it also meant greater freedom for our brothers.
00:06:38 The Governing Body really sprung into action.
00:06:41 They wanted to go
00:06:42 and accelerate the work there.
00:06:43 So Brother Jaracz as well as other members
00:06:45 of the Governing Body
00:06:46 closely supervised the work.
00:06:48 Therefore, the number of visits they made,
00:06:49 well, just skyrocketed.
00:06:52 In the fall of 1989,
00:06:54 Brothers Milton Henschel and Theodore Jaracz
00:06:56 had the unique opportunity of visiting
00:06:58 the brothers in the Soviet Union
00:07:00 for the first time.
00:07:02 The brothers really wanted to study the situation on the ground.
00:07:07 They met with all of the elders, circuit overseers,
00:07:11 district overseers, and members of the Country Committee.
00:07:15 It was like one big shepherding visit.
00:07:21 So in Eastern Europe,
1991 was the stage
00:07:25 for three international conventions
00:07:28 with the subject “Lovers of Godly Freedom.”
00:07:31 But, of course, besides these international conventions,
00:07:35 other open conventions
00:07:37 (so not in secret, no, open conventions)
00:07:41 were held for the first time
00:07:44 in the former Soviet Union
00:07:46 —in Estonia, in Russia, and in the Ukraine.
00:07:51 Just imagine!
00:07:53 After decades of such difficult persecution,
00:07:56 we experienced the opportunity to be together
00:07:59 with our worldwide brotherhood
00:08:01 and to see the brothers from the Governing Body.
00:08:04 It was an unforgettable time.
00:08:07 It was the happiest of times.
00:08:10 It was super!
00:08:12 One outstanding convention was held in Zagreb.
00:08:17 Yes, it was a loving and a courageous decision
00:08:22 of the Governing Body to go there
00:08:25 despite the uncertainty
00:08:29 of the political situation in the country
00:08:32 and maybe (coming up) a civil war.
00:08:36 This convention was the only public event
00:08:40 that was allowed by the government
00:08:43 in the city of Zagreb.
00:08:45 All other public events
00:08:47 were canceled,
00:08:49 but the convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses was not.
00:08:52 Policemen and soldiers
00:08:54 assigned to keep security and order in the stadium
00:08:58 were astonished that Serbians, Croats,
00:09:01 Slovenians, Montenegrins, and Bosnians
00:09:05 were sitting together in peace and in unity.
00:09:11 At those international conventions
00:09:13 in Eastern Europe,
00:09:14 members of the Governing Body gave the final motivating talk.
00:09:18 And those talks, given less than five months
00:09:22 after the thrill of obtaining legal recognition
00:09:25 for our work in the Soviet Union,
00:09:27 strengthened and encouraged our brothers
00:09:30 for trials they would face in the future.
00:09:33 It’s plain to see that the Governing Body of years past
00:09:36 expended themselves
00:09:38 to “know well the appearance of [the] flock.”
00:09:40 They poured themselves out
00:09:42 “like a drink offering”
00:09:44 in order to “take good care of [the] sheep.”
00:09:46 The same deep love
00:09:49 and tender concern for you,
00:09:51 the sheep of the Great Shepherd’s flock,
00:09:53 has been evident throughout modern times
00:09:56 right down to this day.
