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THESOWERSOUTHERNAFRICA–INDIANOCEANDIVISION

PublishingMinistriesNewsletter

Vol.1 Issue2 31May2016

SouthernAfricaUnionSalesTraining

StrategicHighlights

TheSAUPublishingDepartmentconductedaSalesTrainingSeminarfrom5–8April2016.TheSeminarwasheldattheSAUheadquartersinBloemfontein.Inattendancewere130LiteratureEvangelists.

Objectives

1. HelpLiteratureEvangelistsunderstandmarketsandmarketprocesses.

2. TrainLiteratureEvangelistsintheuseofproductknowledgeinSales.

3. TohelpLiteratureEvangelists

mastertheartandskillofcanvassing.

MarketingStrategies

1. DefinitionofMarketing2. Understandingthemarketplaceand

customerneeds.3. Designingacustomerdriven

marketingstrategy.4. MarketSegmentation.5. TargetMarketing

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6. Creationofcustomersandcustomercare

ProductKnowledge

TenBookswereselected.

1. 250Recipes.2. HighlyEffectiveMarriage.3. SmartParent.4. DiscovertheBible.5. HealthyBody.6. HealthyFood.7. NextSuperPower.8. ToHaveandtoHold9. YoungMan,YoungWoman.10. HearttoHeart.

LiteratureEvangelistsweretrainedonhowtocanvassthebooks.Throughworkshopstheydevelopedcanvasspointsoneachof

theselectedbooks.Thepointsselectedwerebasedon:

1. BackgroundInformation2. BookDesigns–Outside3. InsideIllustrations4. PracticalBenefits5. SpecificQuotations

“Ifthere'soneworkmoreimportantthananother,itisthatofgettingourpublicationsbeforethepublic,thusleadingthemtosearchthescriptures.TestimoniesfortheChurch”Vol.4,p,340.

GiftMweembaSAUPublishingDirector

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rince Itai a new convert into the Seventh Day Adventist Church runs a mechanical

workshop in the east of the City of Tshwane (Pretoria) in South Africa. When a Literature Evangelist first visited him, life was not well with him. He was experiencing a number of overwhelming challenges. He had lived a life which was so far from God,

such that it had affected both his business and family. The Literature evangelist prayed for God to intervene in his circumstances.

On the second visit the Literature Evangelist came along with another literature evangelist to strengthen his prayer efforts for Prince, his wife and business. Prince had become so involved in drinking and smoking, such that only the power of God could rescue him. In his own words he said, he had done it all as far as sin is concerned. It soon became clear to him that God had answered the Literature Evangelist’s prayers. His desire for alcohol suddenly subsided.

Prince began to buy many books from the Literature Evangelist. The wisdom in the books helped him learn how to relate to his wife. As he further read the books, he came across the Sabbath truth. When the Literature Evangelist came for another visit, Prince asked for more information about the Sabbath. After the understanding of the Sabbath truth, he decided to visit an Adventist Church. On the second Sabbath he took his family with him. Prince immediately joined the baptismal class.

After attending the baptismal class a few Sabbaths, Prince and his wife decided to be baptized to join God's remnant people. The couple were baptized on the 16th of April 2016, the World Publishing Day. Some of his friends heard about the change which had taken place in his life. They decided to come to witness his baptism. Some of them responded to a call for baptism and decided to join the Adventist church by baptism. Prince believes that the Lord has a great purpose for his life. Other friends heard, and whenever they come to inquire about his new faith, he continues to share his faith daily to his old friends and customers. More people are showing interest.

Prince is very excited about his new faith and looks forward to a time in future when he will be able to work as a full time soul winner.

Elijah Maanzo, Literature Evangelist

Northern Conference Pretoria, South Africa

Reach Everyone I live for mission, like never before

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INVITATION TO HAVE A PART IN GOD’s MIRACLE…

In the town of Bloemhof, a small town in South Africa, lived a lonely elderly lady, more than seventy years old. She was a faithful member of the SDA Church, but she could not get to church every Sabbath, because her nearest SDA church was more than sixty kilometers away. Oh, she so much wanted to meet with God's people on Sabbaths, but it was just not possible for her. Then one day a man came to visit her. He introduced himself as a literature evangelist, and he told her that he was in Bloemhof for a week -- together with a team of four more men -- who have a strong burden to start a church in her town. She was so excited, but wondered how these men are going to do this. Her faith was strong though, and she started making offering bags for the new church.

The team simply followed God's guidance, because the task before them was humanly speaking impossible. With strong prejudice from several other churches, and a very popular Sunday-church pastor, things did not look very promising. But somehow the literature evangelists believed that God was leading them in their work .... and He did. The team started visiting people -- including the popular Sunday pastor -- and sold gospel books to them. They found the people very responsive as if the Lord prepared the way for them. During that week they had outstanding success in sales. Encouraged by the success during that first week, they followed up with another week a few months later. The interest was very encouraging. Within four months there was a small group meeting in a very nice facility every Sabbath. This group was active, not waiting for things to happen, but making things happen. Plans were made for a Revelation Seminar and people of the town were invited to attend. By now just about all the people in town knew something about the SDA Church. The Lord blessed abundantly. The pastor of a popular church offered to sell to the SDA group one of their church buildings in the

middle of town at a very reasonable price. After just four years there are now sometimes more than thirty souls attending church on a Sabbath, in a well-represented church

building in the middle of the town .... one of them, the elderly lady who did not have a church to go to on Sabbaths four years

ago. We rejoice in God's miracles --- Braam Oberholster Retired Literature Evangelist

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ZimbabweUnionConferencePublishingMinistriesAdvisory

FollowingtheSIDAdvisory,ZimbabweUnionConferenceconducteda twoandahalfdaysadvisoryat theunionheadquartersinBulawayo,duringApril27-29,2016,ledbyCastonShokotheUnionPublishingDirector.

AconsiderableamountoftimewasspentontheSIDFourFocusAreasforthequinquennium.Inattendancewerethe six Conference Publishing Directors and the UnionOfficers.

It was apparent that the Union needs to print bookslocallytosustaintheLiteratureEvangelistProgramandofcoursetheentirePublishingPlan.

Planswereput inplace to facilitate theprintingundertheprevailingeconomicchallenge.

InhisClosingremarks,theunionPresident,MicahChogareiteratedthatthepublishingministrywillnevereverbeobsoletedespitethetechnologicaladvancementofthee-books, and yet kindly, one still needs a hard copy. Thedelegates did confess that they benefited from thepresentations and that the direction is now clear as towhat is expected of them as they strategize the wayforward.SMMoesi-SIDPublishingDirector

SIDFOURFOCUSAREAS

1 FULLTIMELITERATUREEVANGELISTPROGRAM2 STUDENTLITERATUREEVANGELISTPORGRAM3 TOTALMEMBERINVOLVEMENT4 STRENGTHENINGPUBLISHINGHOUSES&ABC/HHES

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The publishing Ministries of the Southern Africa

Indian Ocean Division Conducted its quinquennial

advisory at Birchwood hotel in Boksburg South Africa,

during April 17-21,2016, under the theme, “Reach

Everyone, I live For Mission, Like Never Before”. The

delegates were Union Publishing Directors,

ABC/HHES Managers, Publishing House Managers

and the Business Managers. The facilitators were the

General Conference Publishing Director Almir Marroni

and the Associate Director Wilmer Hirle. They were

accompanied by the GLOW international coordinator

who also serves as the Michigan Conference

Publishing Director Kamil Metz. Super Moesi the

Division Publishing director facilitated the smooth

running of the meeting assisted by the departmental

secretary Evodia Khumalo. In the spirit of collaboration,

a number of SID Departmental Directors presented on the areas of support.

The strategy to reach everyone hinged on Four

Focus Areas, namely Regular Literature Evangelist

Program, Student Literature evangelist, Total Member

Involvement and Strengthening of ABC/HHES &

Publishing Houses. The General Conference Leaders,

SID Officers and SID Publishing Director brought their

expertise during these three and a half days. It was a boon to have intercourse with superior minds.

Elders Almir Marroni and Wilmer Hirle among

other topics covered the areas of constant recruiting

and selecting, training and good books for reasonable

prices. The Division President Paul Ratsara highlighted

the Ten Qualities of a Successful Leader. Elder

Goodwell Nthani, the Chief Financial Officer, and Mr.

Good-son Shumba from Treasury presented on the

importance of finance control as the backbone of the

success of the Lord’s business in Publishing Ministry.

The retirement office represented by Savie Maphosa

graced the Advisory to underline the importance of

proper records for Literature Evangelists, for their

comfortable retirement. Kamil Metz focused mainly on

the use of GLOW tracts to fulfil total member

involvement in addition to the missionary book of to

year. To wrap up, the Division Director presented a

synopsis of the quinquennial strategic plan that

highlighted the action plans addressing the focus

areas. One beneficial activity was group dynamics

where leaders divided into groups to discuss how they

will contribute to the vision of reaching everyone. -Super Moesi, SID Publishing Director-

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SID PUBLISHING ADVISORY