JW subtitle extractor

Good morning, brothers and sisters!
How delightful it is to be gathered together
for this spiritual occasion!
Jehovah’s Witnesses
love gathering at conventions
to learn, worship, and sing together.
But large conventions like these,
with tens of thousands meeting together,
weren’t always a part
of our modern-day worship.
How did they get started?
Let’s find out in this episode
of Our History in Motion.
The very first large assembly
of Jehovah’s people
was actually held thousands of years ago
when the Israelites gathered
with Moses at Mount Sinai
for spiritual instruction.
After that, the Israelites
attended three festivals each year.
And just like today’s conventions,
those gatherings brought people together
from different tribes
to praise Him as one big family.
In modern times,
our first conventions
were held in the late 1880’s.
But they weren’t exactly
what we’d think of as conventions today.
With just a few hundred in attendance,
they were really just big meetings
that brought the Bible Students together
to commemorate the Lord’s Evening Meal.
And they were all held
in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
But that changed in 1893
with the opening of the Chicago World’s Fair.
The fair drew millions of people.
And with the railroads offering
discounted rates to Chicago,
the Bible Students saw it
as a perfect opportunity
to invite the brothers and sisters
for a five-day convention.
About 360 attended
—a small crowd by today’s standards.
But early conventions like this one
helped the Bible Students see
just how upbuilding it was
to meet with fellow believers
from other areas.
Eventually,
conventions became an annual event.
Some were held outdoors or in a tent,
like the 1908 convention at Put-in-Bay,
a summer resort on Lake Erie, Ohio.
This convention was ten days long!
And it was the largest up to that time,
with an estimated 3,500 or more
in attendance.
It was a chance for brothers and sisters,
young and old,
to be spiritually refreshed,
spend time together,
laugh together, eat together,
and build true bonds of friendship and love.
The world then suffered
the devastating effects of World War I
and the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic
that had taken an estimated 50 million lives.
But that did not stop God’s people.
Our bonds of love became even more evident
in 1919 at Cedar Point, Ohio.
This was the first major convention held
after Brother Rutherford and his associates
had been released from prison.
Thrilled to finally gather together safely,
the Bible Students
just kept coming and coming
until the entire program
had to be moved outdoors,
with some 7,000 in attendance.
Just three years later, in 1922,
Cedar Point was the location
of an even more exciting convention,
with an average daily attendance
of about 10,000.
It energized God’s people
to go on preaching with renewed vigor.
Many conventions in the years that followed
helped unite God’s people
in even more powerful ways,
like the unforgettable one
held in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931.
Imagine stepping into the Coliseum
at the Fair Grounds,
there are 15,000 in attendance,
and the place is packed.
Your program has two large letters
printed on the front:
JW.
For the first two days of the convention,
everyone is trying to guess
what those letters mean.
Just Watch?
Just Wait?
Finally, Brother Rutherford steps on stage.
Near the end of his talk,
he presents a resolution
that climaxes with the words:
“We desire to be known as
and called by the name, to wit,
Jehovah’s witnesses.”
In the 1940’s,
World War II had left many countries
devastated and divided,
but Jehovah’s Witnesses
were growing in number and in unity.
In 1946,
they gathered in Cleveland, Ohio,
for the “Glad Nations” Theocratic Assembly,
and the name
couldn’t have been more appropriate.
It was a true international convention
with 55,000 delegates
from 33 different nations.
Some even camped
in tents and trailers to be there.
Tent cities were a common sight
during big conventions of this era.
With our spiritual family continuing to grow,
conventions during the 1950’s
were held around the world
even in places where resources were limited.
A landmark example
of just how international
conventions had become
was the incredible
1958 Divine Will International Assembly
in New York City,
which was attended
by more than a quarter of a million people
from 123 lands.
This was the largest international convention
ever held in one city,
filling Yankee Stadium
and, just four blocks away, the Polo Grounds.
The greatest assembly
of true Christians ever held
is opening this day.
We are certain that Jehovah is with us
and that we are here by divine will.
But what unified God’s people
at conventions like this one
wasn’t simply gathering together
in large numbers.
It was the spiritual content:
riveting talks,
practical symposiums, new releases
and, starting in the 1960’s,
Bible dramas on stage in full costume.
Those spiritual gifts
along with the joy of meeting new friends
and uniting with old ones
have made assembling together
a true blessing.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
In the country of Georgia,
where Witnesses had faced severe opposition,
plans were set to hold
the 2006 “Deliverance at Hand!”
District Convention
in the Tbilisi Philharmonic concert hall.
But the hall management canceled the contract
just one week before the convention!
With just days before the opening session,
an army of determined brothers and sisters
turned two plots of farmland
into a convention site
—harvesting the potatoes
planted on the property,
building a stage and benches for seating,
and installing sound equipment.
When it was time for the first session,
everything was ready
and more than 17,000 attended
either on site or by telephone tie-in.
Not only did the convention
come off without a hitch
but the attendees were overwhelmed
with another unexpected blessing
—the New World Translation in Georgian—
unifying them even further
with their brothers and sisters
around the world.
In modern times like these,
special and international conventions
have been held in far-flung places
around the world.
And when it was impossible to meet in person,
we’ve even met online!
From Poland to Korea,
from Australia to South Africa,
conventions were, and still are,
joyful spiritual occasions
for all of God’s people.
They motivate and encourage us,
unite us as brothers and sisters
and, most important,
draw us closer to Jehovah.

Our History in Motion—Conventions