00:00:01 In January of 2020,
00:00:03 we started seeing news reports
00:00:05 about a disease outbreak in Wuhan, China.
00:00:08 Now at the time, it seemed localized and was not of global concern.
00:00:13 But a short time later,
00:00:14 the numbers were going up
00:00:16 as the virus began to spread.
00:00:19 Borders were closing, and airports were shutting down.
00:00:27 On January 22, the Coordinators’ Committee
00:00:30 received their first letter from a branch
00:00:32 about the coronavirus.
00:00:34 The letter was from the Korea branch.
00:00:36 Soon after that,
00:00:37 we wrote to all branches in and around Asia
00:00:40 and included guidelines on what to do
00:00:42 if they had an outbreak in their territory.
00:00:44 We had dealt with local epidemics before
00:00:46 but nothing like this on a worldwide scale.
00:00:49 It was clear that the virus was going to affect almost every aspect
00:00:53 of our theocratic operations.
00:00:56 And during those first few months of 2020,
00:00:58 the organization would be faced with a huge amount of decisions.
00:01:02 You have to realize that this was catching us
00:01:05 right in the middle of our activities.
00:01:08 Our schedule for the whole year had already been planned.
00:01:12 We had shepherding visits to branches, regional conventions,
00:01:16 even special conventions.
00:01:18 And now we had Gilead graduation
00:01:21 and Memorial coming up right in front of us.
00:01:24 What were we going to do?
00:01:26 One of the first things
00:01:28 the Governing Body decided
00:01:30 was that the Coordinators’ Committee
00:01:32 would become the central channel
00:01:35 of communication regarding COVID-19.
00:01:39 Meanwhile, the graduation
00:01:42 of the 148th class of Gilead
00:01:45 was in two weeks.
00:01:47 Should we have guests come?
00:01:49 Should there be a live audience?
00:01:51 There was not much time to make these decisions.
00:01:56 However, after prayer and discussion,
00:01:59 the entire Governing Body decided
00:02:03 not to have a live audience
00:02:05 for the Gilead graduation that weekend.
00:02:09 That was unheard of!
00:02:11 The next thing we needed to figure out
00:02:14 was whether to lock down headquarters at Bethel.
00:02:17 I clearly remember it was a Friday night,
00:02:20 March 13.
00:02:21 We were getting reports of COVID cases
00:02:23 in the congregations around Bethel.
00:02:26 And we also knew that the Bethelites
00:02:28 would be going out to their congregation and other activities over the weekend.
00:02:31 If we were going to do something, we needed to do it quickly.
00:02:36 We called each member of the Governing Body
00:02:39 and explained the situation.
00:02:41 And all were unanimous
00:02:44 that we should lock down Bethel immediately.
00:02:47 So within the hour, a message went to the entire headquarters
00:02:51 and United States Bethel family to stay in,
00:02:54 and if you were out, to return to Bethel immediately.
00:02:58 Sometime later,
00:03:00 we learned that there were some COVID cases at Patterson.
00:03:05 If we had moved ahead, potentially we could have spread COVID
00:03:09 through the whole Bethel family!
00:03:12 We really felt Jehovah’s protective hand.
00:03:17 The same weekend as the Gilead graduation,
00:03:20 the Memorial invitation campaign
00:03:22 was scheduled to begin.
00:03:23 And so branches were asking:
00:03:26 Is it safe to go door to door and to distribute invitations?
00:03:29 What if we can’t meet at our Kingdom Halls?
00:03:31 As the virus had spread in many countries,
00:03:35 it became evident
00:03:37 that we needed to suspend the public ministry.
00:03:41 This was a very serious decision.
00:03:46 But when we prayerfully analyzed the situation,
00:03:50 we realized we would not be showing respect
00:03:54 for the sanctity of life or love of neighbor
00:03:58 if we continued house to house.
00:04:01 Our preaching work shifted to letter writing
00:04:04 and telephone witnessing.
00:04:07 And what a huge witness has been given in this way!
00:04:11 It was amazing to me personally when I saw how quickly
00:04:15 the brothers could adapt to using
00:04:17 Zoom, phone witnessing, letter writing.
00:04:19 And instead of it being a huge setback for the work,
00:04:23 it was almost as though the work even moved ahead.
00:04:26 We were also having to deal
00:04:28 with what to do about our Kingdom Halls and our meetings.
00:04:32 Initially, some of the brothers were thinking,
00:04:35 ‘Maybe we could just simply watch the prerecorded meetings
00:04:38 on JW Stream ®.’
00:04:40 Well, while that’s an excellent provision,
00:04:43 if we were going to do this for a long time,
00:04:47 it would be wonderful to use a tool
00:04:50 that would allow the brothers and sisters to come together virtually,
00:04:54 to be able to interact and have that “interchange of encouragement.”
00:04:58 We knew that a few branches had already started using Zoom
00:05:03 for congregation meetings,
00:05:05 and we wondered, ‘Could this tool be used
00:05:09 for congregation meetings globally?’
00:05:11 So we asked those branches
00:05:13 for their recommendations
00:05:14 on how we could use this tool further.
00:05:17 We got their comments, we did some testing,
00:05:20 and then the Governing Body approved the global use of Zoom for meetings.
00:05:24 At the same time, though,
00:05:25 the Coordinators’ Committee urgently wanted
00:05:27 to help those congregations to arrange
00:05:29 dignified Zoom meetings.
00:05:30 And so within a week, technical and theocratic guidelines
00:05:34 were released to all congregations.
00:05:36 And shortly after that,
00:05:37 tens of thousands of Zoom licenses were purchased
00:05:41 and then provided to many congregations as part of the disaster relief arrangement.
00:05:45 However, not all publishers could use Zoom because of lack of Internet.
00:05:50 So in the days leading up to the campaign,
00:05:52 the Governing Body provided direction to all branches
00:05:55 on how to handle those exact situations.
00:05:58 They also announced that the Memorial talk itself
00:06:01 would be made available on jw.org.
00:06:03 So one branch wrote in and asked if they could use
00:06:06 television and radio broadcasting.
00:06:09 And we thought: ‘That’s a good idea.
00:06:12 Let’s try it.’
00:06:13 Once we saw how well it worked in that country,
00:06:16 television and radio were approved
00:06:19 for all branches in Africa
00:06:21 only two days before the Memorial.
00:06:23 How thrilling it was for many friends in Africa
00:06:26 to find out, even moments before the broadcast began,
00:06:29 that they would be able to commemorate the Memorial
00:06:32 simultaneously with their brothers and sisters throughout the country!
00:06:37 To have the Memorial without being able to meet together
00:06:39 was so different for all of us.
00:06:43 Can you imagine that for the 2021 Memorial
00:06:47 there was an all-time peak
00:06:49 of 21,367,603?
00:06:57 Clearly, we have seen Jehovah’s blessing
00:07:01 on these arrangements.
00:07:04 While all these new arrangements
00:07:06 were being made at a rapid pace,
00:07:09 the usual work of the Coordinators’ Committee Office
00:07:11 didn’t stop because of the pandemic.
00:07:14 We still had to deal with the king of the north
00:07:16 persecuting our brothers.
00:07:18 We still had disasters and many other things to contend with.
00:07:22 In fact, we handled twice as many disasters
00:07:25 in the 2020 service year
00:07:27 in the middle of the pandemic
00:07:29 than we did in 2018.
00:07:31 On a daily basis, we saw clear evidence
00:07:34 that we are living in the last days.
00:07:37 We had to come up with guidelines
00:07:39 to help branches determine
00:07:40 what aspects of relief work
00:07:41 could be postponed
00:07:42 and at the same time ensure that urgent or necessary work went ahead safely.
00:07:47 While there’s no doubt that the pandemic
00:07:49 complicated disaster relief efforts considerably,
00:07:51 it was so faith-strengthening to see
00:07:53 that the Governing Body refused
00:07:55 to allow those complications to prevent them from caring for our brothers.
00:07:59 In addition to the impact these disasters had on our brothers,
00:08:03 in some countries our brothers
00:08:05 couldn’t even get enough food for their daily needs.
00:08:08 This could have been because of government restrictions, supply issues,
00:08:12 or other circumstances that wouldn’t allow the brothers to work.
00:08:17 Literally, the branches had to arrange to provide their “daily bread.”
00:08:22 Branches were encouraged to establish disaster relief committees
00:08:26 to care for the needs on a local level.
00:08:29 Reminders were provided to help families
00:08:32 try to prepare a reserve of food, if at all possible,
00:08:35 in case the situation became worse.
00:08:37 Of course, the virus affected not only our meetings at the Kingdom Hall
00:08:42 but also our circuit assemblies,
00:08:44 regional conventions, and special conventions.
00:08:48 So the Governing Body decided to cancel
00:08:51 all live regional and special conventions
00:08:55 for 2020.
00:08:59 That lead to a landmark convention program
00:09:01 on jw.org
00:09:04 that the entire brotherhood enjoyed.
00:09:09 That same week in March,
00:09:11 we approved that a JW Broadcasting® news release
00:09:16 about the coronavirus outbreak
00:09:18 be developed.
00:09:20 So interviews and scripts were prepared
00:09:23 during that Gilead graduation weekend,
00:09:27 and the program was recorded and released
00:09:31 the following week.
00:09:34 The Governing Body updates
00:09:36 have been an important way for us to shepherd
00:09:40 the entire organization during the pandemic.
00:09:44 Well, once vaccinations became more prevalent,
00:09:47 we faced another challenge.
00:09:49 The United States branch was struggling to get vaccines
00:09:52 for those in the Bethel family who wanted them.
00:09:55 So in early April 2021, we called together a meeting.
00:09:59 We had all the key individuals there from the various departments,
00:10:03 and everyone was given an assignment.
00:10:06 And within two weeks, we had enough vaccines
00:10:10 to vaccinate everyone in the U.S. Bethel family
00:10:14 who chose to be vaccinated.
00:10:16 Well, about a week later, we sent a letter to all branches,
00:10:19 encouraging them to investigate the availability of vaccines
00:10:22 for special full-time servants.
00:10:23 We were especially concerned about special full-time servants
00:10:27 serving in lands where the government was not yet making vaccines available.
00:10:30 After that direction went out,
00:10:33 we had a tremendous response from a number of branches
00:10:37 who were able to obtain vaccines for special full-time servants
00:10:40 who wanted to receive them.
00:10:42 Several branches said that it had seemed impossible
00:10:46 to get vaccines in their country at that moment,
00:10:50 but they prayed about it, they followed the direction,
00:10:53 and then either that same day or the very next day
00:10:58 Jehovah opened the doors and suddenly they had the vaccine.
00:11:03 All of these events occurred rapidly,
00:11:05 and even though it was difficult
00:11:07 to make so many adjustments
00:11:09 in such a short period of time,
00:11:12 we could see Jehovah’s hand
00:11:14 in the Governing Body’s decisions.
00:11:17 Television, radio, videoconferencing
00:11:20 have all served our brothers well,
00:11:22 which just goes to show that Jehovah was guiding the Governing Body
00:11:26 as they made these decisions so early in the pandemic.
00:11:29 You know, we’ve always appreciated
00:11:31 the direction we receive from the faithful slave.
00:11:34 But at that unique time especially,
00:11:37 it was so encouraging to see Jehovah use them
00:11:40 to make these major decisions.
00:11:42 And they made many that one week in March.
00:11:45 Although there have been many challenges
00:11:47 and sad times during the pandemic,
00:11:50 it’s been amazing
00:11:52 to see many positive developments.
00:11:57 So many inactive ones have returned.
00:11:59 So many Bible studies have been started.
00:12:04 We saw how Jehovah guided us through
00:12:07 —decision by decision, step-by-step.
00:12:10 And seeing how Jehovah led us through this situation
00:12:15 has helped me to see that regardless of what is going to come up in the future,
00:12:19 Jehovah is going to do the same thing.
00:12:21 Like the Scriptures say, we get our plagues.
00:12:24 We have those times.
00:12:25 But overall, when you’re in Jehovah’s arms,
00:12:29 what’s the worry?
00:12:31 You could say that every one of the Governing Body’s faith
00:12:33 was strengthened as we got through this trial,
00:12:37 and it’s just a continuous thing of our faith being built up.
00:12:41 And how Jehovah is directing us!
00:12:44 And he’s preparing his people
00:12:46 for life in that new world
00:12:48 —the real life that’s coming.
00:12:51 It’s been a real privilege to see Jehovah’s spirit in action
00:12:54 during this pandemic.
00:12:56 It’s strengthened our faith to see him use the Governing Body
00:13:00 to provide Scripturally based direction and keep the Kingdom work going,
00:13:04 all the while showing respect for life.
00:13:08 As a result, our trust in Jehovah’s organization
00:13:11 is stronger than ever before.
00:13:14 And building this trust now is vital
00:13:17 because Jehovah is preparing us for future events,
00:13:21 including the great tribulation.
