Publication Work in The Lord's Recovery aka The One Publication

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

This will give a very definite impression of where the LC is today. Recently, due to flagging LSM book sales, LC coworkers have appointed a group of brothers to travel around the US (and elsewhere) pushing LC members to purchase more and more ministry publications--with an explicit view to selling off large stocks of books that have been collecting dust in LSM warehouses for the last number of years.

It's really sad to see how the LSM is attempting to disguise its marketing efforts. It's kind of ironic that they would claim there is a need to read more ministry publications, when that is all LC members do in the first place.

[TLFisher]

Constituting oneself with knowledge of an earthly ministry doesn't have a corresponding reality. Still when it comes to fellow Christians not meeting in the local churches, there's no capacity to receive non-LC Christians because they are not denominated by ministry publications.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Freedom

It's kind of ironic that they would claim there is a need to read more ministry publications, when that is all LC members do in the first place.

I'm not so sure about that. In addition to the HWFMR, the publications seem to multiply. Even if you have capital to invest in the publications, who has time to read them all? They just collect dust. IMHO, money would be better spent on a genuine non-profit organization that has real community charity work.

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Terry

I'm not so sure about that. In addition to the HWFMR, the publications seem to multiply. Even if you have capital to invest in the publications, who has time to read them all? They just collect dust. IMHO, money would be better spent on a genuine non-profit organization that has real community charity work.

LSM is adept at repackaging the same things over and over again in various formats. But really the whole enterprise is running out of steam. A flyer has recently been circulated among LC members that is titled "Announcing the Completion of the Collected Works of Witness Lee" (scheduled: 2018). Here is a corresponding website. It is difficult for me to understand how people can get excited about this...

The LSM online bookstore is currently featuring a softbound copy of the Recovery Version of the Ezekiel (the upcoming Winter Training will begin the Crystallization-study of Ezekiel). Of course, the Recovery Version of Ezekiel has already been published in other formats for years. But diehards will buy multiple copies of the single volume, I'm sure. In recent years, LSM has also experimented with gimmicky things like pocket versions of various Life-studies ("Dwarsligger" format), in an apparent attempt at providing tired (and younger) members with new materials.

The dilemma for LSM is that they have no good ways to grow (or even maintain) book sales figures. They are mostly limited to a captive audience of current LC members. Once they really do put out the Collected Works of Witness Lee, they will have no new material--other than new editions of periodical publications like Holy Word for Morning Revival and Ministry Magazine. So, they will be stuck pushing members to buy copies of the same books to give away to other people, as well as coming up with newly packaged formats of the same existing publications. You can already see this happening.

[Evangelical]

They are not that well written either. For example, the publications are not well written, nor are they written well. Repeat the same things they tend to do. So as to repeat the things they tend to do the same. However, in my experience, many Christians cannot read well, so repeating things the same is not a problem, however we should practice more.

[Freedom]

It seems to me that the LSM made two major mistakes with regards to its publication business. Firstly, they limited their publications to Nee and Lee. By doing so, they have limited the scope of what can be published and since WL has been gone 20 years, there is nothing new to put out. Their product is limited by the aggregate of 2 past ministries, and all they can do now is find new ways to sell an old product. They have have assumed that there will be a perpetual demand for such publications, when it is likely that demand peaked long ago.

The other mistake is that the market for LSM publications has already been saturated with existing LSM publications. Take any longtime member and they have likely purchased a good number of LSM publications and a Life-Study set. Thus, it is unlikely that they want to repurchase the newer publications, even if it is the latest CWWL or whatever.

It was also my observation that the younger/newer members did not see the necessity to purchase LSM publications except on an as-needed basis. So the all the publications that LSM might have expected to sell in more recent times have likely gone largely unsold. I think the practice of buying every single book that came out was largely a thing of the past.

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Freedom

It was also my observation that the younger/newer members did not see the necessity to purchase LSM publications except on an as-needed basis. So the all the publications that LSM might have expected to sell in more recent times have likely gone largely unsold. I think the practice of buying every single book that came out was largely a thing of the past.

This is very true. A lot of younger members now mostly use ministrybooks.org or certain officially released "epublications." However, many also use unofficially released (free) "epublications," which has become a major issue with LC coworkers. I have personally heard certain of them severely excoriate groups of FTTA trainees for using these.

[Ohio]

I tried to listen to Bill Lawson, I really did, but became exhausted after 15 minutes. So sad, so stale, been thru this for years. "HWFMR ... morning after morning ... but it's just like licking bar-b-que sauce off the chicken."

Really? Hold on folks! Wasn't that steady diet of HWFMR, excerpts from the most recent training, supposed to "constitute the reader with the divine riches for the building up of the body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem?"

Apparently it didn't work. So, buy some more books! Look, we're running a special. Collected Works. Order now and save 45%.

Their market is definitely drying up. Go to a campus meeting -- no one even carries a Bible any more. Got a smart phone or a tablet? That's all you need.

I'm starting to think that LSM quarantined the GLA and Brazil simply because their regional sales projections were falling off. Regardless of what you may have been told, the LC's exist only to support LSM -- attend their trainings, send your kids to FTTA, and buy their books.

My long-time observation is that the anointing on those messages is drying up. I read messages 40 years ago, and they were indeed anointed with holy oil. Not so today. Those same messages are dry and tasteless. It's not a joke.

[Evangelical]

Messages are not anointed. People are. If we use our spirit to pray and contact the Lord any boring message becomes full of life.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Look, we're running a special. Collected Works. Order now and save 45%.

If you really want to save some money wait for a year. When the Local Church book rooms clean out their closets with yard sales you can probably get this for 95% off.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I tried to listen to Bill Lawson, I really did, but became exhausted after 15 minutes. So sad, so stale, been thru this for years. "HWFMR ... morning after morning ... but it's just like licking bar-b-que sauce off the chicken."

Really? Hold on folks! Wasn't that steady diet of HWFMR, excerpts from the most recent training, supposed to "constitute the reader with the divine riches for the building up of the body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem?"

The LC is full of gimmicky promotions, but this one tops most others. What strikes me is how evident the current state of the LC is, yet members believe they are in the best place on earth. If the LC continues down its current path, it won't be long before LC members really begin to pick up on it. When a group bases itself upon enthusiasm for a certain ministry, and that enthusiasm is simmering down, it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens. Perhaps the inevitable has already began to occur. Certainly, the enthusiasm for what Lee taught peaked long ago.

I think part of the reason LSM books sold well in the past is because people who were there in the heyday of the LC wanted to be immersed in what Lee was teaching. Therefore, buying all the books being put out, reading all the Life-Studies was more desirable during that time. I was around brothers who were always encouraging us to read the ministry, read the Life-Studies, yet despite that push, we never really were much enthusiastic to read more than what we had to. There was simply not much interest in reading LSM publications beyond what HWFMR the church was going over.

The LC has been in the U.S. for over 50 years. That has been plenty of time for any benefits of reading ministry books to have become apparent. But when members do what they're encouraged to do, and nothing comes of it, discouragement sets in. The next time they're encouraged to do the same thing, they know better, so they passively resist doing it. That is basically the root of the problem that the LC is facing. They cannot come up with any new idea to make things work better. They just keep rehashing the same ideas that have failed time and time again.