Advance TaleThe following is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent toRev. Moynihan in February 2004. I had previously sent him the photo below of the 1963 Youth Advance at The Way International Headquarters of which I was a part. There were only 18 of us at that first Youth Advance... ministry wide. Altogether, there were probably not more than 25 youth in the ministry. In this photo, Dr. Wierwille is only 41. I thought that was old! (I am in the front row, second from the left.) |
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There is a story behind the 1963 Youth Advance photo, which I thought you might like to hear… As Mrs. Wierwille's book (Born Again to Serve) shows there was a lot of excitement about establishing a permanent headquarters for The Way, Inc. The first time I attended a Sunday Night Service we met in the Wierwille home basement. The Biblical Research Center (BRC) was built in the Spring of 1962. It was ready to use not long before the first Summer School, which I attended. One of the uses Dr. Wierwille expected for the BRC was weekend gatherings for men, women, and youth. In the Fall of 1962 the Board of Trustees announced a men's retreat at Headquarters. My father attended and was very pleased with the weekend. The next announcement was a women's weekend for January 1963, which my mother planned to attend. However, what was announced was not a retreat for the women but an advance. They were not go to retreat from the world but would spend a weekend preparing to confront the world, to advance the cause of the Word of God. The men were suddenly embarrassed, feeling very outdone by their spouses, and even asked Dr. Wierwille to schedule another weekend so they, too, could advance. He declined and said to wait for the next year as such weekends were only meant as an annual event. When the youth weekend was scheduled, as you can imagine, no one even thought about a retreat. It was now - advance, advance, advance! The weekend was scheduled for March of 1963. The photograph shows Dr. Wierwille and the attendees. Yep, that was all 18 of us! (I still know all but four names.) We estimated that perhaps two-thirds or more of the young people were in attendance that weekend. That first Youth Advance was set up much as we do now, except all the guys slept on the floor of the BRC and the girls on the floor of the Wierwille's home. I don't know what the girls did all night, but the guys talked until very late. I was the last one to bed (as usual) - my time was spent talking about Bullinger appendices until 2:00 am with Phil Skipura! That's what I thought advances were for...talk about what you're studying in the Word until you're too tired to stay awake. Oh, and attend the meetings, too... | |
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In the Fall of 1963 the men had their first Advance. | |