4 The Goodland Daily News / Thursday, October 17, 2002 and sinners: The life of a Jehovah’s Witness This is a story of how I became a Jehovah’s ous, cheerful and happy people. At their inter- year 2000.) life. Witness for a day. national assembly in London, I was treated with george Ironically, while the doorbell ministry irri- “I can understand how you feel,” he told her. Like everybody else, I had been called on the utmost kindness, gentle courtesy and genu- tates so many, it is responsible for the Witnesses’ Then he added, “If it is any consolation, you can numerous times over the years by these door- ine friendliness by every Witness I met.” plagenz great growth. be sure it was not a Jehovah’s Witness who to-door “telemarketers,” who use the doorbell But the Witnesses’ “doorbell ministry” con- “Most who are Witnesses today once killed your son.” instead of the telephone to get your attention — tinues to annoy some. Witnesses still receive an slammed the door in the face of a Witness Witnesses believe we are living in the Last and often your goat! inhospitable reception at many doors. Having • saints & sinners caller,” Gene said. “But situations change in Days. They look forward to the “new heaven The Witnesses’ foot-in-the-door tactics an- never had a door slammed in my face, I decided people’s lives. The next time we come, they may and new earth,” spoken of in the book of Rev- tagonized many. Consequently, it was not un- to see what it was like. I asked Gene Tenke, a show an interest. Almost every Jehovah’s Wit- elation, that will replace the present order after usual for them to get a door slammed in their Witness friend and neighbor, if I could accom- “They know we are Jehovah’s Witnesses,” ness today joined as a result of the door-to-door the battle of Armageddon. faces. pany him on his rounds one day. Gene was a Gene said. “That’s why they won’t answer.” ministry.” This new world will be one beautiful park, Little by little, however, this began to change. successful cookware salesman and lifelong That was one part of it. Another was the As Jehovah’s Witnesses firmly believe that alive with colorful varieties of animals and Aware of the bad will they were creating, the Witness. neighborhood we were canvassing. Gene they must “beat their swords into plowshares” birds. Instead of growing old, citizens of the new sect’s leaders did a remodeling job on the Wit- I am telling you this story now because Gene pointed out it was solidly middle-class. “People and not “learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4), they earth will grow progressively younger. We will nesses’ image. The persistence remained (it is passed away recently and I have been thinking are happy here and content,” he said. “It is those do not participate in war or serve in the Armed all be as we were at age 33. still true that, if you turn them away, they will of that afternoon when we went door-to-door who are troubled and lonely who are most in- Forces. Thousands have gone to jail as consci- After a foot-wearying day in which we met be back in another few months), but the old together. terested in our ministry.” entious objectors. (Gene himself served in more indifference than enthusiasm from the antagonistic attitude was replaced with a pleas- Our problem that day was not that people The ’s biggest growth is in the poverty- prison for 30 months during World War II.) people we called on, I asked Gene if he some- ant demeanor. slammed any doors in our faces. It was that we stricken Third World. (The Jehovah’s Wit- Gene recalled that once he rang the doorbell times didn’t get discouraged. I was not alone in noticing the change. Irish got no answer at most doors we knocked on. Yet nesses’ most recently published statistics, as of of a woman who had lost a son in World War II. “When we get depressed,” he said, “we re- author, Alan Bestic, wrote that, “The rank-and- through the screen doors, we could hear a tele- August 2001, cite a practicing membership of She became angry with him over the Witnesses’ member that the Creator is watching and that file of this much-abused movement are gregari- playing or people talking. more than 6 million — up 1.7 percent from the refusal to take part in the war that cost her boy’s we are pleasing him.” Don’t have a prayer? Prayer lines mean you can alway call for one By Bobby Ross Jr. Men, receives more than 25,000 tele- The telephone requests are forwarded Yet callers should still be careful not to their homes. Nationally, 6,000 — whether she’s in Nashville or at her Associated Press Writer phone prayer requests each month and around the world to 350 prayer groups to be too trusting, watchdog groups like people working two-hour shifts keep family’s home in Florida. On a recent NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Out of a job, an additional 5,000 by e-mail, fax and who recite the prayer for 30 days. the Dallas-based Foundation the line staffed at night and on week- morning, her phone rang 28 times. “Snooky” from Maryland turns to a 1- regular mail. “People sometimes are afraid to have warn. They advise against giving an ends — 365 days a year. “The Lord has blessed me in many, 800 number. It is one of many telephone lines and other people know they have a prob- address or credit card number to people “There’s so many people who don’t many ways. If I can impart some of the It’s not an employment service, Web sites across the nation trying to lem,” Benedict said. But with the Up- working for prayer lines. have a place to turn,” said Clayton Eas- Lord’s blessings on the people that call, though. It’s a 24-hour prayer line. connect people with . per Room prayer line, “they can call and “I’ve always said, ’If you call a prayer ter, a prayer line volunteer in Colum- that is all I can hope for,” said Smith, a The call reaches the home of an 89- From the Assemblies of God’s “1- know they’re safe and share that con- line and they want anything more than bia, S.C. Presbyterian who credits prayer with year-old woman — one of a legion of 800-4-PRAYER” line in Springfield, cern and have someone pray for them.” your first name, hang up on them be- The prayer line started in 1977 as a vi- helping her husband of 47 years survive volunteers — who writes down the Mo., to the Peale Center for Christian Sometimes callers can get help even cause God knows your last name,”’ said sion of Maxie Dunnam, who was then an lung cancer. woman’s prayer request and asks God Living prayer center in Pawling, N.Y., if a volunteer isn’t immediately avail- Ole Anthony, Trinity president. editor of Upper Room devotional maga- Some callers want God to cure their to help. volunteers take prayer requests around able. “At the tone, leave your message While Upper Room is a ministry of zine. The publication still advertises the cancer. Others need help fixing broken “Be with her right now, Lord, and help the clock. and rest assured that your request will the 8.3-million member United Meth- toll free number — 1-800-251-2468 — relationships. A few hope to win the her shut her eyes and see you,” the vol- Mary O. Benedict, manager of the be prayed for,” said a recording on the odist Church, volunteers are from sev- but some find the line through chance. A lottery. Jim Roy, who retired as the unteer prays. “Let her open her ears and Upper Room prayer line, said callers Peale prayer line recently. A voice on the eral Christian denominations. About waitress told North Carolina vol- center’s manager on Sept. 30, said the hear what you have to say just to her.” like the anonymity the ministry offers. Silent Unity Prayer Ministry in Kansas 120 people in Nashville routinely an- unteer Jim Davenport she saw the line on volunteers don’t try to convince callers The Nashville-based Upper Room Volunteers ask only for first names and City, Mo., comforts callers on hold with swer calls on weekdays. a dollar bill she received as a tip. to pray for something else, but instead Living Prayer Center, an ecumenical home state or country, but providing the recording, “While you wait, be as- Some work from the Upper Room Margie Smith, 71, answers calls for hope God can move the person in the ministry funded by United Methodist even that information is optional. sured that God’s love is with you.” office, but most have calls forwarded two hours every Tuesday and Thursday right direction.

Bible Baptist Church Church of Jesus Christ Pastor: Don Crutcher of Latter-Day Saints Fifth & Broadway 1200 15th Street • Burlington, CO • (719) 346-7984 899-7368 Meeting: 9:30 am : 10:45 am Sunday: Sunday School: 9 am Priesthood/Relief Society: 11:30 am Worship Service: 10 am Evening Service: 6:30 pm Wednesday: Evening Study: 7 pm Word of Life Foursquare Church 223 E. 10th 899-5250 Calvary Gospel Church Pastor: John Coumerilh Pastor: Rev. Steve Rains Weekend services Fourth & College • 899-3605 Sunday: Worship Celebration Sunday: Sunday School: 9:15 am and Kids’ Church: 10:30 am Morning Service: 10:30 am Evening Service: 6:00 pm Wednesday: Adult Prayer and Worship: 7:00 p.m. Youth @ the Rock House: 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church Helping you focus upward in worship, inward in commitment and outward in evangelism Brewster: Pastor: Worship Service: 10:45 am CST Church of Christ Sunday School: 9:45 am CST Winona: Church of Christ Minister: Rev. Bob Winters 401 Caldwell Worship Service: 9 am CST 899-6185 First Christian Church Kanorado Sunday School: 10:15 am CST Sunday: Bible Study: 9:45 am (Disciples of Christ) United Methodist Church Worship Service: 10:45 am Pastor: Loren Strait Pastor: Leonard Cox Wednesday: Bible Study: 7 pm Eighth & Arcade • 899-5233 399-2468 Iglisia Del Dios Vivo Sunday: Worship Service: 10:30 am Sunday School: 9:15 a.m. Sunday: Sunday School: 9 am La Luz Del Mundo Activities: Junior High & High School Youth Groups, Worship Service: 10:15 am Spanish Speaking Church Adult Bible Study, Choir, Men’s and Women’s Groups, Minister: Esteban Ortiz B. Devotions Study, Monthly Fellowship 1601 Texas • 899-5275 Church of the Nazarene Special Notice: Handicap Accessible, Hearing Assistance Equipment and Infant and Toddler Goodland Bible Church Daily Prayer: Sunday thru Pastor: Matthew Delp Nurseries Available 109 Willow Road • 899-6400 Saturday: 5 am & 6 pm Third & Caldwell Pastor: Sunday: Sunday School: 10 am 899-2080 or 899-3797 Sunday: Sunday School: 9:45 am Sunday: Sunday School: 9:45 am First United Methodist Church Morning Worship: 11 am Worship Service: 10:50 am 1116 Sherman Evening Worship: 6 pm Evening Service: 6 pm 899-3631 Our Lady of Perpetual Help Wednesday: Call for location Wednesday: Evening Service: 7 pm Pastor: Rev. Janet Hernandez Pastor: Father Norbert Dlabal Sunday: Sunday School: 9:15 am 307 W. 13th • 899-7205 Worship Service: 10:30 am Grace Fellowship Church Sacrament of Reconciliation: 104 E. Hwy 24 • 899-6423 4:30-5 pm Saturday or by appointment First Baptist Church Pastor: Bob Snyder • Residence: 899-0134 Mass Schedule: Sonrise Christian Church Saturday: 6 pm Pastor: Bud Chester Sunday: Sunday School: 10 am Ninth & Caldwell • 899-5398 Sunday: 10:30 am Fifth & Center • 899-3450 Worship Service: 11 am Minister: Tony Kafka Spanish Mass: Sunday: Sunday School: 9:15 am Youth Group at Gattshall’s at 5:30 pm Youth Minister: Doug Bean 1st & 3rd Sunday: 2 pm Morning Worship: 10:30 am Sunday: Worship Service: 9:30 am Adult Bible Study 6 pm Evening Worship: 6:30 pm Sunday School: 10:45 am Tuesday: Mens’ Prayer Group: 6:00 am Wednesday: Thursday: Night Bible Study: 7:00 pm Junior/Senior High Meeting: 7 pm Adult & Children’s Classes: 7 pm St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Pleasant Home Church 13th & Center Serving the rural community for over 100 years 899-2115 or Rectory 899-2114 Rt. 1, Box 180 • 694-2807 • 3190 Road 70 Priest: Emmanuel Lutheran Church Father Charles Schneider Pastor: Charlie Busch Seventh Day Adventist Church Deacon: 13th & Sherman • 899-6161 Gretchen Talitha 694-2242 1160 Cattletrail Adult Forum: Pastor: Scott Grimshaw Sunday : 8:30 am Sunday: Worship Service: 9 am Pastor: Arlin Cochran • 785-332-2888 Sunday: Sunday School: 8:45 am Morning Prayer: 9:30 am 1st & 5th Sundays Sunday School: 10 am Saturday: Sabbath School: 9:30 am Worship Service: 10 am Holy : 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Sundays: 9:30 Wednesday: : 6 pm Evening Service: 6 pm Worship Service: 11 am Sr. Warden for emergencies during the week 899-2067

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