78th Anniversary Service: Streaming All Over the World! - The Way International News and Events

On October 4, 2020, The Way International Headquarters held its seventy-eighth anniversary Sunday Teaching Service. Headquarters Staff and in-residence Way Corps gathered in the Prevailing Word Auditorium Teaching Center to celebrate, but they were not alone in watching the service. For the first time ever, The Way International streamed the anniversary service live, in high definition, to countries around the world!

Previous to this service, The Way used twenty-eight phone lines split between The Way of the U.S.A. and International Outreach countries to bring disciples together to listen in to ministry events. However, for this seventy-eighth anniversary event, the service was streamed to over eight hundred locations in over fifty countries. Forty-five of those countries streamed it live, and some were doing live translations. Below is a map highlighting the different locations that tuned in to the anniversary service. You can click or tap on the map to open it in a larger view that can be zoomed to see more of the detail of all these locations.

National Geographic map used by permission

And what a service it was! Believers around the world watched the curtain of the auditorium stage open to a new backdrop with the word “SHINE” set in ten-foot-tall letters. They listened to an electric guitar lead into an enthusiastic Way Productions performance. The choir then joined in on stage, clapping and moving to the music. Later, a video tribute was played in honor of former President and Chairman of the Board of The Way International, Rev. Rosalie F. Rivenbark, recognizing her for her many years of service at The Way. And after this, former Secretary-Treasurer of The Way International, Howard Allen, handled the faithful disciple recognition, he himself being the second full-time paid Staff member of The Way. Then, the theme poster for the new ministry year was unveiled, displaying the new ministry theme Shining as Lights in the World in bright letters.

The President of The Way International, Rev. Vern Edwards, then taught the greatness of God’s Word, and the service ended with Way Productions playing the new theme song for the year, “We Shine as Lights in the World.” For your blessing, here are some interesting statistics about the impact of this anniversary service and the livestreaming around the nations of the world:

Of the eight hundred streaming locations, some just had one person watching, and other locations had more than six hundred people watching.
On anniversary Sunday, there were over eighteen thousand Way International website page views.
The week of October 4–10, there were almost forty-three thousand website page views, which was over a 40 percent increase from the normal amount.
The new Way Productions CD entitled Think on These Things…, which was released on anniversary Sunday, was for a time in the top five downloads on iTunes in the Christian/Gospel music category.
There were over sixty-three hundred digital downloads of the new theme song from Theway.org.
At least six people watching the livestream registered for the Foundational Class afterwards.
An individual approached their leadership after the service so she could ask how she and her husband could move toward going into The Way Corps.

Enjoy these photos of a few international streaming locations along with a few of the many notes of thanks that were received from around the world.

Argentina

“The light is getting brighter!!! We are the sunshine in the room! Happy anniversary. I love the streaming, the stage changes, and the movement. Woo-hoo!”

Canada

“What an honor to see the inaugural livestream of the seventy-eighth anniversary Sunday Teaching Service from Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Thanks for a fantastic presentation of God’s Word and to everyone else at Headquarters for their prayers and labors to make this special…A gentleman who will be in our October Foundational Class was with us and was overjoyed.”

Chile

“The service was refreshing from start to finish—the wardrobe choices, the set design, the songs and delivery of them by Way Productions (both the choir portion and the regular ones), the teaching style, having the teacher move around the stage, and much more. There were obviously so many details thought through, and moment by moment I was surprised and rejoiced at our new, dynamic church in action.”

Congo

“What an absolute blessing the service was…We are all so blessed to have stood with such incredible leadership, and now to move forward shining with all of our wonderful leadership today.”

Côte d’Ivoire

Ecuador

“THANK YOU for the warm, rich, and enthusiastic teaching and anniversary service to kick off a new ministry year! We’re sending you much love and gratitude from Everett, Washington!”

Democratic Republic of the Congo

“What a great and historical service. It was brilliant!! We in the Dominican Republic feel blessed to be part of such a dynamic, magnificent service. We felt like we were there.”

El Salvador

“I love the signs, love the livestream, and the entire service. I love our new theme and am looking forward to shining brighter and brighter.”

México

“It’s always a blessing to see ‘our home’ looking so wonderful…I’m so excited to see what our heavenly Father has in store for His family.”

Gabon

Togo

“What a wonderful teaching on shining as lights in this world. It took my heart into the heavenlies.”

The impact of the seventy-eighth anniversary Sunday Teaching Service was felt around the world, uniting The Way Ministry and showing believers great vision and direction for continued spiritual growth in The Way.

Acts 16:5:
And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

What an exciting time to be a part of The Way Ministry, and what a time to be called out as God’s children to live and grow together in God’s rightly divided Word!

To see more photos of the streaming locations around the world, view our Flickr album.