And where the eff did they get "more than 900 people" to sign up as Way Ambassadors? Or is it just that they have 900 actual "members" and declared that wherever they are they are "ambassadors of TWI"? A mere technicality to be able to claim they have 900 ambassadors.
3,000 participants. Does that include, I wonder, all the staff pressganged to work on the event? Limb coordinators, etc (if such still exist), dragged in? Together with spouses and children?
I'm almost surprised that there'd be 900 non-staff present. And 900 "ambassadors"? In their dreams!
3,000 participants. Does that include, I wonder, all the staff pressganged to work on the event? Limb coordinators, etc (if such still exist), dragged in? Together with spouses and children?
I'm almost surprised that there'd be 900 non-staff present. And 900 "ambassadors"? In their dreams!
During the absolute height of the WOW program, Wierwille had a dream of sending out 1,000 WOW Ambassadors, which was essentially a self-funded, uncompensated sales force. I think it might have been the the Bicentennial (1976). I could be mistaken on the year. I don't recall if that goal was ever reached. Well, my point is, it's almost comical to think they could ever come anywhere near a goal of 900 WOW Ambassadors, given the current state of affairs. As Twinky said, "In their dreams!".
edit: I suppose anything is possible if you redefine WOW Ambassador.
NEW KNOXVILLE — The Way International concluded its four-day festival, Rock of Ages ’25, on Saturday evening with music and a fireworks show.
The event drew more than 3,000 participants from around the world, according to a release from The Way International, with attendees enjoying amenities such as a petting zoo, a splash pad, food trucks and more. The final tent meeting included the commissioning of more than 900 people to serve as Way Ambassadors for the next nine months, traveling throughout the globe and spreading the message of The Way.
It looks like they are now editing whatever press release TWI sends to the paper. I especially like how they most likely changed the wording from "spreading the Word of God" or "sharing information on how to properly interpret the Bible" or some other TWI-speak nonsense.
"More than 3,000 people" - were these people pestered over and over until they caved in and used vacation and PTO to appease the gods of TWI?
You may be correct... I did a little numerical research (AI OF COURSE) and that average of wow ambassadors to rock attendees is greater than even in 1974 when the first 1000 ambassadors were commissioned...
And where the eff did they get "more than 900 people" to sign up as Way Ambassadors? Or is it just that they have 900 actual "members" and declared that wherever they are they are "ambassadors of TWI"? A mere technicality to be able to claim they have 900 ambassadors.
They expanded the scope of the program to included "Local" Way Ambassadors. These folks went to the ROA, participated in training, and went back to the places they already live. They will do a modified version of the program 10 hours a week. "National" Way Ambassadors are more like the idea of Wows/Way D we know. No idea what the split is but suspect the number of "local" Way Ambassadors is the larger group. This most likely accounts for the inflated numbers.
They're probably counting the future PFAL grads in that total because, once they see the wonderful greatness of the word, they'll be certain to sign up, as well.
(I threw up a little in my mouth as I typed that last part.)
[OK, that all makes sense when you think about it.
First of all, we know that twi cooks its numbers, and has no qualms about using statistics deceptively to inflate their numbers, or draw attention away from the real numbers.
Like when they discussed what 20% of a Way Corps group was going to do. There were FIVE grads. ONE grad was 20%. So, one grad was going to do something. But they reported what the percentages were going to do, and not how many grads. When they published a photo of them, the photo included a LOT of the staff with which they worked. The description of the photo did NOT include saying who in the photo was a grad and who was a staff, so we knew when GSCers identified a lot of the staff in the photo. So, let us review how they used numbers deceptively here. Let us remember two things before we start at this.
1) vpw himself was unable to get 1000 wows when he tried, not even for a huge event like the US Bicentennial, even after hyping it like the end of the world. So, we will NOT see 1000 wows, nor 900 wows here and now.
2) The group has had less than 3000 members for some time now, even including all children and retirees, nationally. They have NOT had a membership boom in the last few decades. The membership booms were a product of their times, when vpw was able to co-opt the Christian hippies and divert them from serving God to shilling for twi. So, membership numbers boomed until the low 1980s as a by-product of them, the people they recruited, the people recruited by those people, and so on. When the late 1980s were done, over 80% of the group was gone in two splits. Since then, there have been no more booms, nor could there be. They lost more people in the 1990s with lcm's purges- and some people who slipped away voluntarily in the face of those purges.
So, how does a group with significantly less than 3000 people get to claim 3000 people attended, and how does the group with less than 900 wows get to claim commissioning 900 wows? By being deceptive with the numbers. The challenge then remains to see what they manipulated, and how they manipulated it. A leopard can't change its spots, and twi can't stop lying, not to its members, not to outsiders, not to everyone not in the inner cadre, the top of the oligarchy. ]
On 8/13/2025 at 11:04 AM, Belle said:
NEW KNOXVILLE — The Way International concluded its four-day festival, Rock of Ages ’25, on Saturday evening with music and a fireworks show.
The event drew more than 3,000 participants from around the world, according to a release from The Way International, with attendees enjoying amenities such as a petting zoo, a splash pad, food trucks and more. The final tent meeting included the commissioning of more than 900 people to serve as Way Ambassadors for the next nine months, traveling throughout the globe and spreading the message of The Way.
It looks like they are now editing whatever press release TWI sends to the paper. I especially like how they most likely changed the wording from "spreading the Word of God" or "sharing information on how to properly interpret the Bible" or some other TWI-speak nonsense.
"More than 3,000 people" - were these people pestered over and over until they caved in and used vacation and PTO to appease the gods of TWI?
So, they don't have a membership of 3000 or more, that's how many people "participated" (showed up) from "around the world". That means at least one came from another country, and significant numbers weren't fully involved, but just showed up.
They claimed more than 900 "Way Ambassadors". They don't ever print a direct lie, they do what vpw did and phrase the truth deceptively, making a craft of "plausible deniability", and leaving things by implication. The truth they say isn't the truth you hear, because they lie by implication and "weasel words."
So, how do we account for the numbers? We get lots of non-twi people to show up for the event, and make it sound like 3000 twi people. With enough leaning on people, they could get at least a thousand curious locals to show up for a day for a petting zoo. People leaning on family to come look for a day could account for more numbers. Then simply leave the implication-without an outright lie- that all those people are actual twi people. ]
3,000 participants. Does that include, I wonder, all the staff pressganged to work on the event? Limb coordinators, etc (if such still exist), dragged in? Together with spouses and children?
I'm almost surprised that there'd be 900 non-staff present. And 900 "ambassadors"? In their dreams!
They expanded the scope of the program to included "Local" Way Ambassadors. These folks went to the ROA, participated in training, and went back to the places they already live. They will do a modified version of the program 10 hours a week. "National" Way Ambassadors are more like the idea of Wows/Way D we know. No idea what the split is but suspect the number of "local" Way Ambassadors is the larger group. This most likely accounts for the inflated numbers.
[So, that decodes the inflated numbers. How did a group of less than 2500 get more than 3000 participants? Host a petting zoo, food trucks, and make a local carnival out of the thing, and talk locals to attend for an afternoon- even if only to attend the local carnival. Then count all of those people as "participants." How are they "from around the world"? Old twi trick- at least 1 person is from outside the US. They could even be a staffer from outside the US. Hey, staffers are required to attend, so that's a "participant." If you have 3 from 3 different countries- 1 from Canada, 1 from somewhere in South America (Hi, JR! Still being counted as from another country?), and one from Africa, like, say, the former Zaire, and you can make it sound like hundreds of people came from different countries. Most of the 3000 were never in twi, and never plan to be, but, hey, taco trucks and a petting zoo, and we have nothing better to do this afternoon, so.... When you live out away from significantly sized cities, the arrival of ONE food truck is an event, and two or more is news. (Anyone who's watched "the Great Food Truck Race" could confirm that- any time the race stopped in a small town, the entire town turned out to greet the trucks because that was the event of the season.)
How did they get more than 900 "ambassadors" when twi in its heyday couldn't pull that off, with attendance now a sliver of attendance then? Well, redefine "ambassador." They don't have 900 people able to uproot and shill for twi even if they had 900 willing to do it. So, make it so that only a handful of them have to uproot and shill for twi like everyone expects. For, say, the other 888 of them, call them "ambassadors" and make the requirement a few hours a week where they live, and lean on everyone to do it. Eventually, through squeezing the members, and easing the requirements- probably more than once until the numbers rose- you could get that many.
So, with enough deceptive massaging of numbers, that's how you get those results, and that's how twi manufactures a story. Frankly, I'm surprised they laid out enough cash to get a petting zoo and food trucks. They must have wanted to seem relevant really, really badly, to have actually given up cold, hard cash to do it.]
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Rocky
Great question.
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Belle
And where the eff did they get "more than 900 people" to sign up as Way Ambassadors? Or is it just that they have 900 actual "members" and declared that wherever they are they are "ambassadors of TWI"? A mere technicality to be able to claim they have 900 ambassadors.
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waysider
This sounds plausible.
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Twinky
3,000 participants. Does that include, I wonder, all the staff pressganged to work on the event? Limb coordinators, etc (if such still exist), dragged in? Together with spouses and children?
I'm almost surprised that there'd be 900 non-staff present. And 900 "ambassadors"? In their dreams!
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Twinky
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Nathan_Jr
They did open this year's festival to the general public. How many of the 3000 were locals, I wonder.
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waysider
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waysider
During the absolute height of the WOW program, Wierwille had a dream of sending out 1,000 WOW Ambassadors, which was essentially a self-funded, uncompensated sales force. I think it might have been the the Bicentennial (1976). I could be mistaken on the year. I don't recall if that goal was ever reached. Well, my point is, it's almost comical to think they could ever come anywhere near a goal of 900 WOW Ambassadors, given the current state of affairs. As Twinky said, "In their dreams!".
edit: I suppose anything is possible if you redefine WOW Ambassador.
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Nathan_Jr
And if it’s NOT possible, just apply that foundational hermeneutic: if it doesn’t fit, you got to MAKE it fit.
Make the numbers whatever they need to be. What a tremendous truth!
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oldiesman
You may be correct... I did a little numerical research (AI OF COURSE) and that average of wow ambassadors to rock attendees is greater than even in 1974 when the first 1000 ambassadors were commissioned...
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shortfuse
They expanded the scope of the program to included "Local" Way Ambassadors. These folks went to the ROA, participated in training, and went back to the places they already live. They will do a modified version of the program 10 hours a week. "National" Way Ambassadors are more like the idea of Wows/Way D we know. No idea what the split is but suspect the number of "local" Way Ambassadors is the larger group. This most likely accounts for the inflated numbers.
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waysider
They're probably counting the future PFAL grads in that total because, once they see the wonderful greatness of the word, they'll be certain to sign up, as well.
(I threw up a little in my mouth as I typed that last part.)
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WordWolf
[OK, that all makes sense when you think about it.
First of all, we know that twi cooks its numbers, and has no qualms about using statistics deceptively to inflate their numbers, or draw attention away from the real numbers.
Like when they discussed what 20% of a Way Corps group was going to do. There were FIVE grads. ONE grad was 20%. So, one grad was going to do something. But they reported what the percentages were going to do, and not how many grads. When they published a photo of them, the photo included a LOT of the staff with which they worked. The description of the photo did NOT include saying who in the photo was a grad and who was a staff, so we knew when GSCers identified a lot of the staff in the photo. So, let us review how they used numbers deceptively here. Let us remember two things before we start at this.
1) vpw himself was unable to get 1000 wows when he tried, not even for a huge event like the US Bicentennial, even after hyping it like the end of the world. So, we will NOT see 1000 wows, nor 900 wows here and now.
2) The group has had less than 3000 members for some time now, even including all children and retirees, nationally. They have NOT had a membership boom in the last few decades. The membership booms were a product of their times, when vpw was able to co-opt the Christian hippies and divert them from serving God to shilling for twi. So, membership numbers boomed until the low 1980s as a by-product of them, the people they recruited, the people recruited by those people, and so on. When the late 1980s were done, over 80% of the group was gone in two splits. Since then, there have been no more booms, nor could there be. They lost more people in the 1990s with lcm's purges- and some people who slipped away voluntarily in the face of those purges.
So, how does a group with significantly less than 3000 people get to claim 3000 people attended, and how does the group with less than 900 wows get to claim commissioning 900 wows? By being deceptive with the numbers. The challenge then remains to see what they manipulated, and how they manipulated it. A leopard can't change its spots, and twi can't stop lying, not to its members, not to outsiders, not to everyone not in the inner cadre, the top of the oligarchy. ]
NEW KNOXVILLE — The Way International concluded its four-day festival, Rock of Ages ’25, on Saturday evening with music and a fireworks show.
The event drew more than 3,000 participants from around the world, according to a release from The Way International, with attendees enjoying amenities such as a petting zoo, a splash pad, food trucks and more. The final tent meeting included the commissioning of more than 900 people to serve as Way Ambassadors for the next nine months, traveling throughout the globe and spreading the message of The Way.
For more information, go to theway.org.
Link to the article here.
It looks like they are now editing whatever press release TWI sends to the paper. I especially like how they most likely changed the wording from "spreading the Word of God" or "sharing information on how to properly interpret the Bible" or some other TWI-speak nonsense.
"More than 3,000 people" - were these people pestered over and over until they caved in and used vacation and PTO to appease the gods of TWI?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[(Hi, Belle!)
So, they don't have a membership of 3000 or more, that's how many people "participated" (showed up) from "around the world". That means at least one came from another country, and significant numbers weren't fully involved, but just showed up.
They claimed more than 900 "Way Ambassadors". They don't ever print a direct lie, they do what vpw did and phrase the truth deceptively, making a craft of "plausible deniability", and leaving things by implication. The truth they say isn't the truth you hear, because they lie by implication and "weasel words."
So, how do we account for the numbers? We get lots of non-twi people to show up for the event, and make it sound like 3000 twi people. With enough leaning on people, they could get at least a thousand curious locals to show up for a day for a petting zoo. People leaning on family to come look for a day could account for more numbers. Then simply leave the implication-without an outright lie- that all those people are actual twi people. ]
===============================================================
Twinky:
3,000 participants. Does that include, I wonder, all the staff pressganged to work on the event? Limb coordinators, etc (if such still exist), dragged in? Together with spouses and children?
I'm almost surprised that there'd be 900 non-staff present. And 900 "ambassadors"? In their dreams!
===========================================================
Nathan Jr:
They did open this year's festival to the general public. How many of the 3000 were locals, I wonder.
===========================================================================
shortfuse:
They expanded the scope of the program to included "Local" Way Ambassadors. These folks went to the ROA, participated in training, and went back to the places they already live. They will do a modified version of the program 10 hours a week. "National" Way Ambassadors are more like the idea of Wows/Way D we know. No idea what the split is but suspect the number of "local" Way Ambassadors is the larger group. This most likely accounts for the inflated numbers.
==================================================================================
[So, that decodes the inflated numbers. How did a group of less than 2500 get more than 3000 participants? Host a petting zoo, food trucks, and make a local carnival out of the thing, and talk locals to attend for an afternoon- even if only to attend the local carnival. Then count all of those people as "participants." How are they "from around the world"? Old twi trick- at least 1 person is from outside the US. They could even be a staffer from outside the US. Hey, staffers are required to attend, so that's a "participant." If you have 3 from 3 different countries- 1 from Canada, 1 from somewhere in South America (Hi, JR! Still being counted as from another country?), and one from Africa, like, say, the former Zaire, and you can make it sound like hundreds of people came from different countries. Most of the 3000 were never in twi, and never plan to be, but, hey, taco trucks and a petting zoo, and we have nothing better to do this afternoon, so.... When you live out away from significantly sized cities, the arrival of ONE food truck is an event, and two or more is news. (Anyone who's watched "the Great Food Truck Race" could confirm that- any time the race stopped in a small town, the entire town turned out to greet the trucks because that was the event of the season.)
How did they get more than 900 "ambassadors" when twi in its heyday couldn't pull that off, with attendance now a sliver of attendance then? Well, redefine "ambassador." They don't have 900 people able to uproot and shill for twi even if they had 900 willing to do it. So, make it so that only a handful of them have to uproot and shill for twi like everyone expects. For, say, the other 888 of them, call them "ambassadors" and make the requirement a few hours a week where they live, and lean on everyone to do it. Eventually, through squeezing the members, and easing the requirements- probably more than once until the numbers rose- you could get that many.
So, with enough deceptive massaging of numbers, that's how you get those results, and that's how twi manufactures a story. Frankly, I'm surprised they laid out enough cash to get a petting zoo and food trucks. They must have wanted to seem relevant really, really badly, to have actually given up cold, hard cash to do it.]
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