Written by: Miss Usato Last Updated October 8th, 2024
The 2024 Annual Meeting occurred in Newburgh, California, on October 5th, beginning at 8:45 A.M. ET. As is tradition, the meeting opened with a musical prelude featuring a montage of children being baptized, aerial footage of global disasters, and scenes of natural beauty. It concluded with an AI-generated clip depicting a child peacefully sleeping beneath a panther in a vision of “paradise.” Here, you can read a general outline of how the day went. The Annual meeting will also be broken down into PDFs by talk and uploaded here by October 14th.�
Governing Body member Gage Fleegle opened the annual meeting with a series of beard jokes. Now that facial hair is allowed and is not a matter of disapproval, beard jokes were laced throughout the meeting. Under the new policy, which allowed a more lenient approach to those previously shunned, he reminded attendees, “We welcome back thousands who have been removed from the congregation.”
Fleegle then emphasized the historical importance of October, highlighting two key events. The first was October 539 BCE, the date of Belshazzar’s feast—known for the famous “writing on the wall ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPARSIN ‘ in the biblical story of Daniel.�
His second point was the October 1924 literature, “Ecclesiastics Indicted,” which described how this wicked system blinds people to the truth, with clergy and churches pledging their allegiance to the devil.
Before Lösch hit the podium, it was announced that he had been a member of the Governing Body for thirty years.
He begins his talk by holding up a mirror, asking, “Have you looked in the mirror today?”� Bringing up the scripture 2nd Corinthians 3:18, “-and all of us, while we with unveiled faces reflect like mirrors the glory of Jehovah, are transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, exactly as it is done by Jehovah the Spirit,” he created ahazy outline of a mental mirror, howPaul showed that Christians reflect like mirrors in the gory of Jehovah. He lists five types of glory in the bible.
It was then that Lösch announced the news of two new Governing Body members:
Jacob Rumph and Jody Jedele�
Jacob Rumph– Before his appointment to the Governing Body, Rumph was a ‘Deskman’ in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Service Department in Wallkill, New York. Service Department Deskmen oversee internal Judicial Committee proceedings across congregations within the United States Branch territory, including the handling of sensitive matters such as child molestation cases in local congregations. According to public exhibits attached to a Montana civil lawsuit against the Witnesses, Rumph’s oversight as a Deskman included Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, and North and South Dakota jurisdictions. A former Jehovah’s Witness said that Rumph was in his congregation in California as he grew up and eventually became an elder before he went to Bethel. He was noted as a “down-to-earth, very well-known brother.” Rumph sounds like he is as loyal to the organization as they come, especially if CSA reports arrive at his desk and their departments hide the truth.
Jody Jedele– More of a company man, Jedele started living in Bethel in 1990. He is known for being in the real estate business from 2010-2013. He has been in the service department for over two years; his featured photo above was from a talk on Jworg: “Remember the Builder.” He and his wife, Damaris, owned a reality company called “Tierra Bella Reality”in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2012, a video was posted from “Touchstone International Properties: what is CCIM?” Showing Jedele explaining what a CCIM is, representing as Managing Partner. Jodele is also a treasurer and secretary of the Dayton Beach Assembly Hall and the West Palm Beach Convention Center in Florida.
Winder announced that since the preaching work is now more urgent than ever, they are reducing the minimum age requirement to eighteen to apply for Bethel, the headquarters in New York. Young brothers and sisters twenty-one or older can now apply to attend the Schools for Christian Evangelizers. The adjustment is effective immediately.
“Jehovah is blessing his people with growth. More younger Christians are needed, so set goals for full-time service in front of your children.” He adds pressure, asking young ones to give up their lives to volunteer for construction projects, and also tells parents that even if they miss their kids going off to help the organization, do not deprive them of it.
Sanderson continued to pressure young people to volunteer their lives in preaching work. He takes us back 140 years to 1884 when Zion’s Watchtower and Bible Tract Society were legally incorporated. A video that expressed the need for missionaries and the rapid growth from 1943 to 1953 was played.
He mentions that 36 new missionaries were sent to Madagascar and 10 to Latvia this past year. Another video interviews some of the missionaries. He then announces that those 21 years or older can apply to SKE (School of Kingdom Evangelizers). “The work is still ongoing! Let’s keep polishing those mirrors. We need young people who want to go and make disciples of all the nations.”
Jackson, shouting through half of his talk, highlights the changes they have made in the past and adds two more.
First, regarding The Number of Anointed Ones, he says, “For a long time, we thought that the number of anointed ones on earth would slowly decrease over time.” Jackson points out that the number of partakers has recently increased since even younger brothers were appointed to the Governing Body. He highlights that we need to be careful not to assume the number of anointed ones will shrink to just a small group of older ones.�
Next, Jackson brings up the Start of the Great Tribulation, emphasizing the importance of recognizing what Revelation 16 tells us (in their eyes, now). It speaks of the gradual drying up of the symbolic waters, representing the loss of support for false religion. “While this is happening more noticeably in regions like Europe, where religion’s influence has waned, it’s not the same everywhere. In places like Africa and South America, religion remains strong.” He thinks that Revelation 17:17 assures us that Jehovah will put the thought into the hearts of the nations to carry out his will and that we must remain alert.
After a short break, a video was played with Sanderson’s March 2024 Governing Body Update announcing how Jehovah has “lovingly provided” a change in how to treat removed (ostracized, disfellowshipped, shunned) members of the congregation. This was a momentous moment for Jehovah’s Witnesses, whom those excommunicated were treated like the plague. The video shows interviews of elders describing what it was like to remove such a “wrongdoer” and how emotional it was to see them come back (Since, you know, they lost all of their family and friends).
The nerve of this organization to go from complete shunning of a removed person to now being emotional about how wonderful Jehovah is for them to say “hello” is shocking. Jehovah has now “shown mercy” and doesn’t want to destroy anyone. At the end of the video, Fleegle tears up as the audience claps. This is an atrocious move to former Witnesses who have been shunned, leading to major depression, mental health issues, and, in many cases, death. When you see beyond the illusion that wrongdoers ostracized themselves, it’s grossly offensive for the likes of Fleegle to sport some tears on stage, calling this ‘a loving provision.
Cook’s talk conveniently emphasizes the importance of supporting repentant wrongdoers and highlights Jehovah’s “unchanging nature.” He states, “Jehovah is the same as yesterday, today, and forever. What Jesus did on earth reflects his thinking now, and we should strive to imitate him.Jehovah desires people to return to Him. -Elders are encouraged to seek even the most minor signs of repentance. Has Jehovah’s perspective changed? What should we tear down, and what should we build up? Both actions are scripturally justified when appropriate. Jehovah balances his righteousness and mercy.” Cook explains that just as an ice cream sundae requires all its toppings to be complete, Jehovah’s actions—whether tearing down or building up—are defined by how a combination of these qualities works together.
He concludes by noting the Governing Body’s role in dealing with “wrongdoers,” including those who may lose family, friends, or even their lives—like tearing down buildings, noted that some are beyond repair and notably in ruins. “-Well, some you can’t fix. The elders will continue to remove unrepentant ones from the congregation; of course, there should be ones to send out of the congregation.”
This is a new animated episode of ‘Becoming Jehovah’s Friend.‘ At the beginning of the meeting, a trailer of the episode was played, saying, ‘Coming soon. ‘ Then it was announced that they would watch the episode at the annual meeting. It’s about a Jehovah’s Witness girl, Sophia, who invites her non-believing friend, Zoe, to the memorial. She studies with the girl, going into the story of Ruth. Eventually, after her mom is pressured to attend the memorial with her, this nonbeliever starts imagining life in paradise herself. She sees everyone reuniting with their resurrected loved ones. In the end, before she loses hope of finding her Grandma there, a heavenly Jesus shows up in the clouds and says, “Zoe, turn around.” When she does, she sees her Grandma walking toward her.�
The most animated Governing body member, Lett, comes on stage to talk about how we would never be bored in Paradise. He talks of the brain’s capacity, fleas, Instruments, and of course, beards.�
“Would we all become carbon copies of each other? With no variety in Paradise?” He deems that to be shallow reasoning, and just because we would be perfect does not mean everyone would have the same intense interest. He then lists some hobbies we can all do that would make us different. Lett brings up a photo of 2 twin boys and how they are not precisely alike, his reasoning being that is why we would never be the same.
“Wouldn’t we learn everything there is to know? Would life become unstimulating? Nothing is boring about Jehovah’s Creation!”�
Lett concludes by discussing how many endless things you can learn and experience. Such things, he said as an example, were hairstyles, how you can switch houses with others, and things you can study—like fleas.�
Splane had the final talk for the meeting, and he starts by replying to Fleegle leaving the stage, saying there was a special treat in store. “-and just to be clear, I am not the special treat” (we know). His talk was a general recap of what is glorified in Jehovah’s eyes, repeating key points of the previous talks. He continued, “In 2025, we need to preach about God’s name more. Let’s seriously consider ways to give God glory. Psalms 96:8 would be the year text. “Give Jehovah the Glory due his name.”Splane reads a poem called “Give Jehovah Glory,” which is part of a new original song that was then played at the annual meeting.
The meeting ended by singing the new song, “Give Jehovah Glory” with attendance, including JWstream:
Canada 708, Newburg 2,523US Bethel 12,080, JW stream 167 countries- 143,070, all together-159,081�
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