Board Vision Training Videos, Part 1
Transcription of Video #1
By Peter A. CM/FM 3406 12/01
1.(Prays:) Hallelujah! We love You, Sweet Love, Sweet Husband. Thank You that we can all be together like this today, and for these meetings over the next few days, this time when all of these who are going to be board members can be together and we can discuss together, pray together, and plan together the implementation of the board structure.
2.Lord, we're really thankful that You've given us this structure.We give You all the credit and all the glory. We know that after the years of working on it, it's only been Your hand. You gave the idea with lots of prayer and prophecy and working together in counsel with the COs and others, and we've come up with what we believe is a plan that You have for the Family at this time to help us move on to greater heights, to the new horizons that You have ahead of us.
3.Jesus, we're very thankful for all of these who have agreed to help in the board structure. They know the sacrifice that's going to be involved--that it's going to take some of their time, and it's going to mean more responsibility. So we're very thankful that they've been willing to take this step. We need them, Lord, and it's very important that they participate. So we're very grateful to them.
4.Jesus, we're grateful to You for Your great love and the wonderful care that You give us, the supply, and all the great and mighty things that You are doing throughout the Family, throughout the world. It's wonderful to read about it, to hear about it, and to see all that is being accomplished. And we believe that with the board structure, even more will happen--that new goals will be reached, new horizons will be hit, and that our dear Family who work so hard, who really give to You and lay down their lives for the lost, will be better served and will have more of what they need. And these here that are watching now and praying together with us are going to be those who will play a major role in it, so we thank You for it.
5.We're starting this series of talks, and I ask for Your special anointing. I have a lot to cover, and there are many things that we need to discuss. Some of it I'm going to be able to read, some I'm just going to talk about, but in all of it I really need You. I'm not such a hot reader; I need You and Your anointing when I read. So please help me, especially today since I'll be reading this keynote. I ask for Your anointing, for Your Spirit, and that You help those that are listening to really be able to absorb it, and that I won't be distracting from Your message in any way.
6.Help us in the days to come when we're talking more extemporaneously. I ask again that You lead and guide me. Help me to speak the things that You want said, and not to get in the way. Please bless it, Lord. We call on the power of Your keys. We claim their power right now, Jesus, for these meetings and my reading and speaking, and that by the end of all of this that these who are here will be able to go home in faith to start their new jobs and the new roles that they will play within the boards. Bless them, and make this time a blessing, in Jesus' name. Thank You Jesus! We praise and thank You so much! Hallelujah! (End of prayer.)
7.Well, I practiced a few openings before we actually started and I didn't do so good, so I figured praying was the best thing to start the video on, and then I'd be "un-nervous" enough to be able to talk to you.--And then eventually to read you the keynote that the Lord gave us to give you for these meetings. We're really happy to see you. We're very thankful, as I said in our prayer, that you're here, that you've answered the call, and that you're willing to take up this new challenge of the boards. It's going to be a pretty big deal, as you'll see as we go along, and we're extremely thankful for your help.
8.I'll read what the Lord gave us to share with you about the journey we're all about to embark on together.
Keynote
9.We are faced with great challenges in implementing the board structure. We are bringing about a major change in our form of government. We're adding layers of participation that haven't existed before. We're including close to 500 new people who haven't been involved in the leadership of the overall Family, and we're putting the responsibility and decision-making authority into their hands.
10.We must make these changes to facilitate the many other new things that are coming our way. The Lord has shown us that the Family is going to grow; in fact, it's already too big for our present structure to handle. With additional members, ministries, and an increase of activity, we need added help to shoulder the load and to cope with the varied needs of the worldwide Family.
11.Thank you for having accepted the invitation to be members of the various boards in your area. Thank you for holding and attending these meetings. Having you in position as board members, and here to meet with fellow board members in preparation to launch the board vision, is the culmination of years of work in preparing the board structure. It's similar to parents who, month by month, wait in eager anticipation for the birth of their child. You are the fulfillment of the Lord's promise that He would raise up others to help us carry the load. He promised to supply those who are faithful and true, who will help us lead the Family into the future. You are those people.
12.Mama and I are overjoyed at this prospect! We're happy to know that you are now having your board meetings, and that you are determined to take up the challenge of serving your brethren for the good of the work. We're grateful to the Lord that through you the Family will be better served. The thought that you will be part of the pillars that will hold up the Family structure takes a great load off Mama's and my shoulders, as well as the shoulders of the COs, who have valiantly helped us to carry the load for years.
13.We have entered into a new century. We have entered into the era of action. We're heading into the future the Lord has promised us over the years, and in order to do the job that is required, we need you. We need the combined strength of all of you--the pillars--to help hold up our ever-growing structure. As you pillars come to the fore to support our board structure, it will strengthen the Family, and this strength will come from your prayerfulness, your involvement, your ideas, and your sacrifices.
14.We're counting on each one of you to make the board structure work, because you are the essence of the structure. The board structure will stand or crumble based on what you do--your initiative, your involvement, your dedication to those that you serve, your unity one with another, your prayerfulness, and your connection with the Lord. We're depending on you to come through, and the Family is depending on you.
15.The Family is looking forward to the board structure with anticipation, and also with some trepidation. They have high hopes, yet they also have some fears about it. It's going to be up to you to make those hopes become a reality, and to quell those fears. It's not a matter for you to be fearful about, though, as the Lord has promised us success as we follow His leading--but the challenges before you are very sobering.
16.We have done what we can to prayerfully set up the board structure and to lay in place its rules and procedures, but until today it has all been theory, like the blueprint of a building. Now that theory will become reality. Now it will be put to the test. And you are about to become the tangible structure that, until this point, we have only been able to see as a blueprint. Today is the groundbreaking of the new structure of our government. For those of us who have put countless hours into counsel, prayer, prophecy, discussion, and debate about these plans and preparations, we see today as the victorious end of that part of our work--the fruit of our labors.
17.For you it's a beginning. You are starting on a path that we pray will change the Family forever. You are about to pioneer a new form of Family government, one that will involve you and hundreds of others just like you who are intimately aware of the challenges that our Homes and Family members face on a daily basis.--The challenges of caring for and educating our children, of cultivating fruitful ministries, following up on sheep and contacts, building a local work, feeding your fold, keeping the young people inspired and moving forward in their spiritual lives and service to the Lord, shepherding the Homes, and presenting the Family as it is to the public and not as what many perceive it to be.
18.You are here today watching this video because you are gifted in one of these areas, and you have agreed to use the gifts the Lord has given you to help others. It is your love for the Lord and the Family, and your willingness to help, that is the core of the board structure. It is your willingness to devote time, thought, and prayer to the needs of others that will help to strengthen the Family like never before. Mama and I and the COs thank you for your willingness to step out of yourselves and out of your Homes to help others. Thank you for your willingness to lay down your life for the brethren. Thank you for helping to shoulder the load of Family government, and for helping the Family to grow into what the Lord has promised.
19.Expressing our thankfulness for you wouldn't be complete without also acknowledging the role and sacrifices that your Homes have played in allowing you to accept your board member positions. We realize that your reaching out to help the Family outside of your Home will mean a sacrifice of your time and attention towards those you live with, and we're very thankful for their willingness to give of you for the sake of others. Our prayer is that the Lord will supply the needs of your families, children, and loved ones during the times that you are devoting to the needs of your board and the area, and that there will truly be no lacks as a result of your and their giving.
20.Change is ahead for all of us. The Lord led us to set up this new structure because He wants that change. He wants to have hundreds more people involved in the overall running of the Family so that He has hundreds more channels through which He can pour out His ideas, and who can work together to help bring them to pass. With all of you praying, discussing, and hearing from Him, there will be an abundant flow of wise, Spirit-led, and prayed-about ideas, which, when implemented, will strengthen the work in your areas.
21.This is the purpose of the boards: to gather together those of you who are gifted and knowledgeable in the various pillars, so that you can discuss, pray, hear from the Lord, and decide what can be done to help strengthen your board in your area. We believe that when you get together for prayer and discussion within the area of your expertise, the Lord will pour out new ideas which will bring about much change.
22.We want that change. The Family needs that change. They need the help and counsel that your boards can provide. They need the initiatives that you will come up with. They need to know that there are people right there in their area, who they know personally, who are aware of their needs and problems, and who are praying about those needs and problems, and have some authority to do something about it.
23.You are going to have the challenge to pray about these matters, and you are going to have the authority to act upon what the Lord shows you to do. This new form of government will empower the boards to make decisions and to implement those decisions. There are, of course, built-in checks and safeguards, but for the most part it's going to be up to you to pray about the matters that pertain to your boards, and to implement what the Lord shows you. This means that the ball is going to be in your court.
24.The COs will no longer play the role that they have for so many years. They have voluntarily given up a great deal of their authority in order to make the board structure work. They are stepping into new, more limited roles, in which they can concentrate their talents in the areas of their personal expertise while allowing others to assume positions of responsibility over facets of the work that they once were involved in. They recognize that the job has grown too large for them. They see that the needs of the Family have become too diverse for them alone to handle. They are all in agreement that the time has come for more involvement by others so that the responsibility can be shared, thus multiplying the overall effectiveness of our governing structure.
25.The COs have done a tremendous job. Every year their workload has increased, to the point where it is now more than any of them can handle. It's been a crushing task and it has taken its toll on them. Yet in spite of the difficulties, they have carried on for the sake of the Family, and they have made a major difference. Mama and I couldn't have done without them. Neither could you have.
26.The changes that will be brought about by the board structure are by no means a "sweeping out of the old." We have no complaints about the COs and the job they have so sacrificially done. In fact, we feel the opposite. We have nothing but praise for their years of laboring in love for the Lord and for you, in the difficult and often thankless job of leadership. The majority of their work has been done behind the scenes, for which they have gotten very little credit. Yet they have carried on, often at great personal sacrifice, to serve you in love. We have worked with them over the years and have been privy to their battles and victories. We have seen them toil for the sake of others. We have nothing but admiration and love for them. COs, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for laying down your lives for the brethren. Thank you for a job well done. Thank you also for your willingness to now share the load, the responsibility, and the authority with others.
27.Mama and I were extremely proud of the COs at the summit as they prayed about, discussed, and voted away much of their authority. It made us very thankful to have co-workers who aren't in it for the glory or the power, but whose total focus, desire, and commitment is to see the Family as a whole be strengthened and better served. Their support of this change and the implementation of the board structure shows their love and commitment to you, dear Family.
28.It's not easy to give up authority or direct hands-on work. It takes restraint and faith--faith to let others be led of the Lord. I saw Dad do it over the years. As he prepared Mama and me for the leadership of the Family, he stepped back and let us make decisions that he had previously made. He limited himself to working on only those things the Lord specifically wanted him to do, and he let us carry on in the realms which he knew we were gifted in.
29.He stepped back and he let us carry the ball. He was there for counsel, he was a check and balance, but he let us do our jobs while he did his. In doing so, Dad accomplished his goal: His load was lightened and he could spend his time concentrating on the main job of feeding the Family without being distracted by a lot of administrational details and duties. He got Mama and I and others involved in various aspects of the Family and starting new initiatives and programs, which trained us for further leadership.
30.I don't think it was always so easy for Dad, since prior to that he had been involved in virtually every aspect of the Family, but he knew he needed to step back and let others step in to shoulder the burden. I admire him for doing so, even as Mama and I admire you COs for doing the same.
31.Mama and I over the past year have tried to follow Dad's example by operating more in a "board manner" within WS. We've set up committees and departments for most aspects of WS and have empowered them to make decisions regarding their work. Though Mama and I still oversee the work, the majority of the decisions are made by those committees and departments. They're prayerful, they counsel together, they hear from the Lord, and they do what the Lord shows them. Because they're prayerful--and I repeat that--because they're prayerful, we trust them to make the right decisions. They inform us of their decisions and send us the prophecies, and very seldom do we have any objections or changes.
32.But it isn't always easy, at least not for me, to not be involved in everything I used to be involved in. I was much more hands-on in some of these things before, and now having others counseling together, praying together, and coming up with the solutions and initiatives can be a bit difficult for me. It's a change. I have to remind myself to let them do things according to their faith when they're working on a solution, rather than trying to take the reins and lead things the way I think they should be done. While I've agreed with the goals these committees or departments are trying to reach, sometimes I would have approached things in a different way, so it's taken some conscious restraint on my part to not interfere with their faith. It's not always easy, but it's worth it, because if you trust and have faith, and you pray for them, you will see the Lord's hand on those that He's anointed for the task.
33.You COs are now going to be in the same boat. Because of our present structure you've had to carry a tremendous load. In a sense, you've collectively had to have your fingers in many different pies in numerous countries throughout your continental area. You've had to be involved in minute details that could've been handled by others if the structure would have been such that others could have helped.
34.The structure is now changing and you will now have the opportunity to share the load. It will be a change for you, a change that we know you are committed to make--that of allowing others the responsibility and authority for matters you were responsible for in the past. Others will make decisions that were yours to make in the past. From time to time you will be outvoted on some issues and you will need to support the board's decision. You will have to encourage others to speak out when they are reluctant to because you, a CO, are part of the board and they worry about disagreeing with you.
35.It's going to be a change, but you're prepared for it because you helped to orchestrate the change, and because you've asked the Lord to help you to make the changes needed in each of your lives. Mama and I know you will do your best.
36.We ask that all of you who work with the COs on the boards understand the big change that it is, and allow some leeway as the COs make this change. If from time to time they slip and fall into trying to run things more than they should, please, have patience and understanding as you work with each other to learn to function and interact as you should. Remember, it is certain that they will need to have patience and understanding with you in your new roles and positions.
37.You, too, will have lots to learn about working and counseling together as a board. There will be lessons in decision-making, with the extra burden and the responsibility of having your decisions affect not only you or your Home, but other Homes in your area, or the whole region if you're on a regional board.
38.Being on a board is going to catapult you into a different sphere of responsibility, one with much more at stake. The board you sit on will be making serious decisions that will affect the work of your national or regional area. Collectively, you as a board are responsible for those decisions and for their outcome. This should put the fear of God in you. It should make you desperate to get things right, to pray, to counsel, and to hear from the Lord.
39.It will mean working together in unity with fellow board members. It will mean setting aside any personal agendas or hobbyhorses that you may have for the sake of trying to find the Lord's plan and solution to the problems. It will mean finding what's right, not who's right. The Lord has given quite a long list of topics, guidelines, tips and aspects of your teamworking to go over during the next few days, which we hope will help you as you take on your duties as board members.
40.The Lord showed us that having these meetings prior to the board structure going into effect would serve as an initial training, and hopefully help you to avoid some pitfalls which could set you and the program back. We'll discuss these topics on video, and they can be further discussed and prayed about during your time together. We'll cover topics that will help you as board members, and which will also challenge you to change, to develop better decision-making skills, better people-handling skills. These topics will help you learn how to conduct yourself in board meetings, how to discuss and disagree in a loving manner, how to interact with the Homes, what it means to be a board member, what is expected of you, what's your authority and your responsibility, and much more. I won't list everything right now, because if I did, some of you might chicken out and take off!
41.Before we get into all that you need to know to be an effective board member, we want to thank you for your willingness to participate. The Lord, Mama and I, the COs and the Family need you; we need your skills, your talents, your gifts. We need the wisdom that you've accumulated in your service to the Lord. We need to tap into all that you've gone through in your years of service, all the breakings, the defeats, the heartbreaks, the humblings and the lessons, as well as the triumphs and victories--all that you've experienced throughout your life. For it is those things, along with His Word, that will give you the understanding, the compassion, the love, the desperation, and the wisdom for the job. Thank you for all that you've gone through. Thank you for hanging on. Thank you for choosing discipleship over any other form of service. Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you for taking on this new challenge and for helping us to move the Family into the future. We can't do it without you.
42.Here's something the Lord gave for you just this morning:
43.(Jesus speaking:) Thank you, My loves, for answering the call, for taking the step forward and saying, "I am willing." Thank you for recognizing and acknowledging that I have gifted you, and that you can now use these gifts that I have given for the benefit of others. While you have used your gifts to help others over the years, now you have the opportunity to use them to help many more and to be the basis, the structure of this new form of governing and leading My children. It's a big responsibility, one which is going to take much prayer, much sacrifice, and a giving of yourself--your time, your energy, and your effort. It will not be an easy task, but one which is necessary for the Family to become all that I have promised it will be.
44.Each of these, My promises, will be fulfilled in a step-by-step manner. This is one of the major steps, and you will play an important role in this step. I have called you out from amongst your brethren to be servants--servants of these who toil day in and day out to do the job that I have called the Family to do, that of preaching the Gospel and being an example of true Christianity.
45.My children have cried out to Me for help in implementing the Word that I have poured forth through My queen and My king, and you are the answer to those prayers--each of you helping in the implementation of My Word, in the solving of problems, and in the giving of help and support to the Homes. All of this will strengthen the Family and help to catapult it into the church of the future, a church of living stones who live for Me, who do My will, who are yielded to Me and who are My true brides--not the old church, but the new church.
46.Again, I say, it is all a step-by-step process, and progress has been made in each of these steps. There are more steps to come, but with each step you get closer to the fulfillment of My promises.
47.So thank you, My loves, for taking this step, for being involved, for giving of yourselves, for in doing so, you are the physical manifestation of the Family's answer to prayers, and you make up a new and stronger structure which will be able to hold up the multitudes that I will send your way.
48.The implementation of the boards and their smooth running is going to take time, work, patience, unity, and love. But if you will strive towards these goals, and if you will put your shoulder to the boulder and help get things moving, I promise that I will pour forth many new ideas and bring about much change that will strengthen every Home and every person. You will be conduits of My wisdom, of My Words and My ideas, which will help bring a great strengthening throughout the Family.
49.So thank you, My loves, for taking up the challenge and for your willingness to give of yourselves for the betterment of My children--your brethren--the Family. (End of message from Jesus.)
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50.(Prays:) Thank You Jesus! Praise You Lord! Thank You for those beautiful Words! Thank You for the challenge, and also, Lord, for the promise that You will help us to meet the challenge. Thank You that we can move on into the future and that we can face these changes that are ahead of us in faith, knowing that You are there first off, and that there are so many of us now that will be united together in this structure for the leadership of the Family--who can help, who can carry the load, who will help us in laying down their lives for the brethren. They have before, Lord. It's not like nobody has ever helped out or laid down their lives, but now there's a structure to do it in which will make it easier, and will help the Family to be more receptive to that help.
51.I pray for each one, Lord, as they now go in to these meetings. I pray that You help them to go in in the right spirit--the spirit of servitude and of humility--realizing that leadership is not a job or a position of greatness, but one of service, of being, as Dad said, the rug that people come and wipe their feet on. They are going to be part of this structure; they're going to be serving. I pray that You help them to really grasp the true spirit of the board, and that is of giving--giving of self--of loving--of loving the brethren--of sacrifice--sacrificing their own time for others. And if they'll do this, if they'll enter in the right spirit, then the Homes will be so much more apt to receive the help and to want it, and to want to participate in what's going on.
52.So I ask that You bless them and that You strengthen them, and that as they're together with other board members, that they will take time to pray and to seek You about their lives and areas in their lives that they can improve in to become better servants, better helpers.
53.Lord, we're counting on them, and You're counting on them. They've made the commitment to discipleship. They've stood and they've said, "I'm going forward." And now You want to use them in a new and greater way. So please, Jesus, help them to be yielded to You in their lives. Help them to enter into this new stage with faith, with courage, with humility, with love, and most of all, Lord, with desperation in seeking You to do the job the way that You want it done.
54.We thank You for them, Lord, and we pray that You do bless the time that they have together and anoint them for it so that they can grasp all that You want to show them, in Jesus' name. Praise You Jesus! Thank You Lord! (End of prayer.)
55.Okay, folks, we really, really love you! We'll start in the next videos to go over some of the things that we said we would. I'll try to explain more about the boards and your role in them and how you're supposed to be as a board member, and how it's all supposed to work. We will really be praying for you as you listen to these videos, as you discuss things together, as you pray together, and as you try to grasp the whole big picture.--So that when you return and begin your first board meetings you'll know what you're doing; you'll know how you're supposed to be; you'll understand the goals; and you'll be the huge blessing that we know that you can be to the Family and to the work.
56.Again, we're super thankful! Mama and I love you very much, andwe're super happy that you're going to help carry the load! I know the COs are thrilled about it too, and we believe the Family will be thrilled about it as well. It might take them a little while to get used to it, and I'm sure it'll take some time for you to grow into your roles and positions, but as we do, the Lord has promised that great things will happen. Amen? And you'll be part of it.
57.Okay! Thanks so much! Talk to you later! God bless you! Bye! X!
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