Dedication and Annual Meeting
EVER since Abel’s day Jehovah has had witnesses on earth who worshiped him with spirit and truth. (Heb. 12:1) However, their worship has not always been before the public eye with the same degree of prominence. Thus, after Nehemiah’s day, Jehovah’s pure worship was almost lost sight of in a maze of Jewish tradition and formalism. (Matt. 15:1-9) Likewise, after the apostles fell asleep in death the professed followers of Christ departed from the pure worship even as Paul warned. (Acts 20:29-31) And just as John the Baptist, Christ Jesus and his apostles and disciples were used to restore pure worship in their day, so Jehovah has directed the restoration of pure worship in modern times.—Mal. 4:5, 6.
This modern restoration of pure worship actually began in the 1870’s with the coming together, in Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, of a group of sincere Christians and open-minded students of the Bible. As a result of their studies they began to understand Jehovah’s Word more clearly in keeping with his promise that the path of the righteous would shine ever brighter until the perfect day. (Prov. 4:18) To expedite the work of making known to others the good things they were learning, in various languages as well as in various ways, these Christians organized the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1884. In 1909 the Society’s headquarters were moved to Brooklyn, New York, and today it has branches in seventy-five different lands and directs the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom in 159 countries and islands of the sea.
In the seventy years of its existence this Society has published scores of bound books and booklets in some hundred different languages and to the extent of hundreds of millions of copies. Since 1884 it has been publishing The Watchtower (first published in 1879) and since 1919 what is now the Awake! magazine. Appearing semimonthly and in many different languages, these two journals have a combined circulation well over three million copies.
In accordance with the law the Society has had a registered office and has held its annual meetings in Pittsburgh. Demolition proceedings making it necessary to find new quarters, a beautiful building was constructed at 4100 Bigelow Boulevard and Parkman Avenue. The building is modern, very attractive, spacious, light, clean, providing excellent Kingdom Hall facilities for two local congregations in addition to office facilities for the Society. It is a place that is fitly representative of New World interests and one that Jehovah’s witnesses in passing through Pittsburgh will rejoice to see and where they are most welcome.
On the evening of September 4, 1954, a dedication program was presented, the principal speaker at which was T. J. Sullivan, a member of the Society’s board of directors. He showed what it meant to dedicate this building to Jehovah and stressed the obligations of all those who would be using it as their Kingdom Hall both as regards their ministry and their daily conduct. At the conclusion of this address the chairman read a resolution that called upon all in attendance to live up to the high principles of Christianity and that pledged the support of all those associated with the two congregations using the building for their Kingdom Halls to the pure worship of Jehovah and to faithful co-operation under the direction of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The resolution was unanimously adopted.
About four weeks later, the Society marked its seventieth year at its annual meeting on Friday, October 1, by meeting for the first time in its new registered office. This meeting of the members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was truly a joyful occasion, striking a note of confidence from the outset. It was called to order at the appointed hour, 10 a.m., by the Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, who presided, and who called on one of the members present to offer prayer. Of the 484 members 482 were present either in person or by proxy. All together an audience of 820 overflowed the main auditorium, which comfortably seats 500.
After adopting a resolution to change the registered address of the corporation to its new location and directing the filing of notice of this change as required by law, a unanimous vote approved the action of the board of directors in designating the new address as the location for the annual meetings from now on. There were vacancies in the board of directors to be filled by the members at this annual meeting; three in fact, the terms of Nathan H. Knorr, Milton G. Henschel and Lyman A. Swingle expiring. By unanimous vote the members re-elected these three brothers to serve in the capacity of directors of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for the ensuing term of three years. There are seven members of the corporation’s board of directors and at the time of each annual meeting two or three vacancies occur.
The corporate membership is truly representative of the world-wide New World society. Twenty-nine different nationalities are represented, serving in all forty-eight states of the United States and the District of Columbia and in a total of sixty-nine different countries. They are mature and two thirds of them are of the remnant. Their average age is nearly sixty years and all but twelve have been in Kingdom service prior to 1940, and the majority for more than twenty-five years. Of course, being so widely scattered, most of them voted by proxy.
Following the business of the annual meeting the Society’s president spoke on Psalm 112, about the man who fears Jehovah and the blessedness of this man of God, this anointed class. He pointed out that this 112th Psalm contains the yeartext chosen for 1955. It was a reassuring and confidence-inspiring talk gratefully received and it sharpened the appetite of all the assembly for the material eventually to reach them as part of the 1955 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The officers of the Society are elected by the board of directors, and so following the annual meeting the board of directors met on October 5 at the executive offices of the Society in Brooklyn and re-elected all of the Society’s officers to serve a term of one year until the next annual meeting of the directors in October, 1955. So the corporate structure is complete and properly functioning to Jehovah’s praise. The officers continuing: N. H. Knorr, president; F. W. Franz, vice-president; Grant Suiter, secretary-treasurer; and H. H. Riemer, assistant secretary-treasurer.
[Picture on page 747]
The new modern registered office of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U. S. A.