1996 “Messengers of Godly Peace” District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses
1 Genuine expressions of gratitude for the spiritually rejuvenating program were heard from many of the 1,452,460 who attended the 1995 “Joyful Praisers” District Conventions in the United States branch territory. Our hearts were filled with joy at seeing 15,801 praisers of Jehovah symbolize their dedication by water baptism. We rejoiced to receive the two new publications, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Education and Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life. Our having enjoyed such a stimulating program last year should truly motivate us to make every effort to attend the program being arranged for the 1996 “Messengers of Godly Peace” District Conventions. Surely all of us should invite our Bible students and help them to be there with us. These conventions will prove to be a real source of encouragement and strength as we continue joyfully serving Jehovah in these last days.
2 Be sure to make your convention arrangements well in advance so that you can be there to enjoy all three days of the delightful spiritual program, from the opening song to the closing prayer. Lovingly include in your plans those who may need assistance, especially newly interested ones, so that they too can be present at every session. It would be very helpful to consider the information in this insert with any Bible students who may plan to attend. (Gal. 6:6, 10) The program starts with music at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and ends at approximately 4:30 p.m. The Saturday program begins at 9:30 a.m. and closes with song and prayer at approximately 4:30 p.m. The morning session on Sunday begins at 9:30, and the day’s program concludes at approximately 4:00 in the afternoon. The following information will assist you with your preliminary preparations.
3 Instructions for Obtaining Rooming Accommodations: After the Service Meeting for the week of January 1, congregations should post on the information board the 1996 Recommended Lodging List for the district convention to which the congregation is assigned. This list gives all the hotels presently cooperating with the Society’s rooming arrangements. Your cooperation with these arrangements will assist the convention organization in its efforts to provide sufficient rooming accommodations for everyone at reasonable prices.
4 What You Should Do: After—NOT before—your congregation posts the 1996 Recommended Lodging List containing the addresses, phone numbers, and agreed-upon rates of the hotels, you are free to phone the hotel of your choice from the list and make reservations, specifying the number of beds needed. Identifying yourself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or as a delegate attending the Watchtower convention will qualify you for the rates listed, which in most cases are greatly reduced.
5 One night’s DEPOSIT IS REQUIRED to hold the room. Your deposit should be sent directly to the hotel AS SOON AS you make reservations. To make certain that your reservation is honored, be sure to ask for a confirmation number. If your deposit is not received by the hotel within ten days, your reservations can be canceled at any time. HOTELS ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO HOLD ROOMS WITHOUT A DEPOSIT. If you must cancel your reservation, you should immediately notify the hotel, making the room available for other delegates.
6 If the hotel you call first is filled, call your next selection from the list, and so on. Often everyone calls the hotels closest to the convention facility being used; therefore, you may find it beneficial to try some hotels farther away. These also have quality rooms at lower rates. The convention Rooming Department will continue to provide the congregations with revised lists, deleting hotels that have been filled and listing additional hotels until everyone has a room. Thus, if all the hotels on the list are filled, please notify your congregation’s secretary and wait patiently for the next list, and you will be able to obtain a room. The congregation secretary should call the convention Rooming Department, using the telephone number on the Recommended Lodging List, and advise them that the hotels say they are full.
7 Dormitories: A few conventions use school dormitories in addition to hotels in order to accommodate everyone. Usually, congregations will receive information on these a month or so after receiving the first hotel listing. Those needing accommodations of this type should follow the instructions on the list that is sent to the congregations.
8 Special Needs: This provision is only for exemplary publishers, including their well-behaved children, who are approved by the Congregation Service Committee. Arrangements to care for persons with special needs should be made by the congregation where they attend meetings, not shifting this obligation to the convention organization. Elders and others who are aware of the individual circumstances can lovingly extend help. This often requires that publishers consider the needs of those in full-time service, the elderly, the infirm, and perhaps others. Publishers may extend help by taking such ones with them or caring for their needs in other practical ways.—Jas. 2:15-17; 1 John 3:17, 18.
9 Of course, the Rooming Department will endeavor to provide suitable rooming accommodations for publishers with special needs if they cannot be assisted by those in the congregation. These publishers may discuss their situation with the congregation secretary. The secretary should speak with the rest of the Congregation Service Committee to see if it is possible for the congregation to assist these individuals in caring for their own rooming accommodations. If the congregation is unable to render the needed assistance, the secretary may give such persons a copy of the Special Needs Room Request form. Only those with special needs should fill out this form. It is to be filled out by the person making the request. It should be returned to the secretary, who will check it for completeness, for accuracy, and for verification of the circumstances that qualify the person for such consideration. The circumstances are to be EXPLAINED IN DETAIL by the secretary in the space provided on the form. All of this should be done well ahead of the convention. After verification by the service committee, the secretary will then forward the form to the Rooming Headquarters address. The individual making the request will be notified directly about the accommodations.
10 Those with special needs should NOT go to the convention and request a room when they arrive, since the Rooming Department must have the verification of the Congregation Service Committee.
11 Private-home accommodations are set aside for those who would experience real hardship if such accommodations were not available. They are not intended for those who can afford hotel rooms but who want free or inexpensive rooms just to save money. Furthermore, it is not proper for those making such requests to presume upon the hospitality of brothers by expecting to be accommodated for additional days before or after the convention. These rooms are provided for the convention period ONLY. Those receiving such accommodations should make sure that they and their children act respectfully toward the home of their host and not rummage through or damage the host’s possessions or enter private areas of the home. If householders experience any difficulties along this line, these should immediately be brought to the attention of the rooming overseer at the convention.
12 Delegates Attending From Outside the Assigned Area: The location assigned for you to attend is the one nearest your congregation. Arrangements for having adequate seating, literature, rooming accommodations, and so forth, are based on the premise that the majority of publishers will attend the convention to which their congregation is assigned. However, if for good reason you will be attending a convention other than the one to which you are assigned and need accommodations, parking tickets, and so forth, the congregation secretary can give you the address for that convention headquarters from the list on the back of the Special Needs Room Request form. Then you can request in writing a copy of this year’s Recommended Lodging List or any other information you need for that location. Be sure to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Upon receipt of this list, you should use it to make your reservation.
13 Your Cooperation Is Appreciated: The success of this rooming arrangement depends on the cooperation of all those involved. (Compare Hebrews 13:17.) Most brothers and sisters cooperate fully with the Society’s rooming arrangement and USE ONLY THE HOTELS ON THE RECOMMENDED LODGING LIST FOR THE CURRENT YEAR. Sadly, though, some are not cooperating, causing major difficulties in negotiating with the hotels. Some hotel personnel say they do not have to work with the convention because they will get our business anyway. Watchtower Convention contracted with the hotels on the list, stating that our convention delegates will be using them. It is a guarantee that they will get the business if they provide special rates for us. Most publishers are taking to heart the clear direction that has been given in previous convention inserts, and many good results are being experienced.
14 One brother informed the Society that the rooming arrangement really “pays off.” He stayed at a hotel for “a mere $38.00 per night.” An individual checked out just before him and paid $82.00 per night. The brother went on to say: “What a savings for all of us! How could we ever afford $82.00 per night plus gas, food, and other expenses? I don’t think many of the brothers realize the ‘regular rates’—I know we didn’t until today. Thank you.” Another wrote: “After I attended this year’s district convention, it hit me. All my life I’ve attended the assemblies and conventions and have (sorry to say) taken for granted the love, hospitality, and care that is shown to Jehovah’s people. Every year without fail we receive a Recommended Lodging List containing hotels that offer significantly lower rates than normal and that we should stay in while attending the convention. I can only imagine the time, money, and effort spent working out all the details of prices, rates, and so forth, and really it doesn’t have to be done! It could be left up to each Witness to find his own room whatever the price, but it is not! All of this really impresses on me how much love and concern our Father, Jehovah, has for his servants and how he has set up an organization on earth to care for the needs of his sheep, spiritually and physically. So I want to thank you personally for all your hard work and love.” We trust that this year everyone will observe the guidelines for obtaining hotel accommodations noted in the box above.
15 Some have used Recommended Lodging Locations lists from previous years, and the hotel that they chose was no longer on the current list. Others receive letters from hotels they previously stayed at that are no longer on the list. So we ask that you use the current year’s list. Some are booking rooms at hotels not on the list or are paying rates higher than those listed, saying that they did not mention anything about their association with the Watchtower convention. They reserved their room, using their personal or corporate name. Of course, the hotel personnel involved easily observe that these individuals are Jehovah’s Witnesses by the dates they are booking and by their appearance and actions while staying at the hotel. Sad to say, some of our more affluent brothers are the ones violating the Society’s arrangement, feeling that they can afford to pay higher rates and not use the recommended hotels. However, this does not take into consideration the needs of the entire brotherhood. First Timothy 6:17-19 reminds us: “Give orders to those who are rich in the present system of things not to be high-minded, and to rest their hope, not on uncertain riches, but on God, who furnishes us all things richly for our enjoyment; to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal, ready to share, safely treasuring up for themselves a fine foundation for the future, in order that they may get a firm hold on the real life.” Just as we would care for the fatherless boy and the widow, we should at all times consider the needs of all our brothers and sisters, not just ourselves.—Phil. 2:4.
16 On the other hand, IF YOU EXPERIENCE A PROBLEM WITH A HOTEL, please do not hesitate to bring it to the attention of the Rooming Department overseer at the convention so that he can assist you in resolving the matter right away.
17 The convention organization is working hard to make suitable accommodations available and save our brothers as much expense as possible. It is therefore in the best interests of all to cooperate fully with the Society’s rooming arrangement. The listing gives a choice of good-quality accommodations at hotels that cooperate. With this arrangement our aim is to help all convention delegates to be accommodated as comfortably and economically as possible so that they can fully enjoy the fine spiritual program at the convention. Your loyal support of this provision from Jehovah through the faithful and discreet slave is greatly appreciated.
Note to Body of Elders: Please do not read the Society’s December 15, 1995, convention assignment letter and the first and last paragraphs of the Recommended Lodging List for your congregation until the Service Meeting for the week of January 1. After that meeting, post the letter and the list on the information board. Elders are NOT to change their Service Meeting to an earlier night for this week unless the circuit overseer is visiting the congregation. NO ONE, INCLUDING THE ELDERS, SHOULD MAKE HOTEL RESERVATIONS BEFORE THIS SERVICE MEETING. To the extent possible, the congregation secretary should handle convention-related material and announcements on future Service Meetings unless otherwise specified or if he is unable to do so.
[Box on page 3]
To Obtain a Room
◼ Phone the hotel of your choice after the 1996 Recommended Lodging List is posted.
◼ Identify yourself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or as a delegate attending the Watchtower convention.
◼ Be prepared to send one night’s deposit immediately after reservation is made.
◼ If all hotels or dormitories are filled, please wait patiently for the next list.
[Box on page 5]
Ways You Can Cooperate
◼ Do not call hotels in the convention city and ask them if they are on the current list or have special Watchtower rates for the convention. Also, please do not use the same hotel year after year without first checking to see that it is definitely on the current list.
◼ Do not accept a higher rate for a hotel room than what is quoted on the current list, including Thursday and Sunday nights.
◼ Please do not make reservations at a hotel you do not intend to use or at more than one hotel, with the idea of checking them out, selecting the best, and canceling the others. (Matt. 5:37) This is unfair, as it prevents the hotels from getting business they could have had, and it deprives other publishers of the use of those rooms, which are often vitally needed.
◼ Do not reserve rooms for yourself or others without giving names and immediately sending the deposit for each room.
◼ Do not put more people in the room than the law and the management allow, which is normally no more than four or five persons, including children. Remember, you are paying a rate based on the number of persons you AGREED would be in the room.