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Jehovah's experience 'joy despite pandemic'

| September 3, 2020 1:00 AM

About 1,300 people from the Coeur d’Alene area who typically travel to Spokane every summer for three days of Bible instruction recently attended their annual convention from the safety of their living room.

Jehovah’s Witnesses made the historic move of canceling in-person conventions this year and hosted their first virtual global convention which carries the theme of “Always Rejoice!"

Coeur d’Alene resident Corey Binder said he was grateful for the virtual format.

“There was a huge sense of relief when it was established that we would hold our congregation meeting by video conferencing,” he said. “We have many homebound friends who have thrived with video conferencing. You can see their joy boiling over.”

Robert Hendriks, United States spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said this year’s program was a “spiritual shot in the arm” amid a backdrop of widespread fear and doubt.

“The message is basically, joy is a product of the heart, if you will,” he said. “It’s an inside job. It’s something that doesn’t depend on what’s happening externally — it really is a quality of the heart.”

Work to record the three-day event began in April as the virus continued to spread.

With an average annual convention attendance of 1.5 to 2 million in the U.S. and 14.1 million worldwide, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest convention organization in the world.

"Creating a virtual program for a worldwide audience, ready to view on a unified summer schedule, meant translating and recording it into hundreds of languages in a timely manner," a press release said.

The program included 114 videos, 43 talks, and a 76-minute feature length Bible drama titled Nehemiah: “The Joy of Jehovah Is Your Stronghold.”

The 2020 “Always Rejoice!"regional convention ran throughout August.