Local Witnesses in drama about obeying Jesus

WHAT: Jehovah’s Witnesses annual district convention

Theme: “Remain Close to Jehovah”

WHEN: 9:20 a.m.-4:55 p.m. Friday

9:20 a.m.-4:55 p.m. Saturday

9:20 a.m.-3:40 p.m. Sunday, with drama “Walk By Faith and Not By Sight” at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 6-8

WHERE: RBC Center, 1400 Edwards Mill Road, Raleigh

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call Bob Weiss at (919) 270-1912

BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563

DURHAM — Jehovah’s Witnesses can take comfort in knowing that wherever they are in the world, they could walk into a Kingdom Hall and feel welcomed by their brothers and sisters.

In the U.S. this summer, 1.7 million Witnesses are attending 357 annual conventions in 90 cities. This weekend and next weekend, about 20,000 Witnesses from the Triangle and beyond will gather at the RBC Center in Raleigh. And just as in Kingdom Halls where congregations meet, there will be a familiarity and sense of community at the conventions, too. Every convention will include a drama that uses the same recorded audio and the same message of staying close to God.

Several Durham Jehovah’s Witnesses are involved the dramatic presentation of the story of early Christians escaping the Romans. Raymond Pritz, who attends the Kingdom Hall on Dumont Drive in Hillsborough, will direct. Shamika Gift, who attends the North Durham congregation, and Dwight Walters, who attends a Kingdom Hall in East Durham, were both also assigned roles in the drama.

Gift portrays a wife and mother in “Walk By Faith and Not By Sight,” who, along with her family, flees Jerusalem. Gift’s husband Compton, daughter Briana, 14 and son Blake, 11, are also in the drama. They’ve all been part of previous convention dramas, too. This year’s production, which the 16-member volunteer cast learned to lip synch to the recorded audio script, talks about obedience.

Obedience to God and obedience to parents are important things to teach, Gift said. Her family of four goes out together in the Jehovah’s Witness ministry of knocking on doors and sharing their message. Obedience might mean making sacrifices, she said.

“But the reward is always positive when you’re obedient to the teachings of Jesus and follow them,” Gift said.

Gift, Pritz and Walters agreed that the biggest misconception people have about Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they don’t believe in Jesus. Not true, they said.

“I say that we do believe in Jesus as our savior and redeemer of mankind — obedient mankind,” Pritz said. He has attended annual conventions every year since 1950, when he was just six months old. As a teenager, the drama during the convention was a visual representation of what touched him personally. This year’s drama topic of the importance of obeying Christ’s commands is just as important today as it was in the first century, he said.

Rehearsals began in April, and all costumes are locally made and the makeup and beards are done by other volunteers.

Walters will play an older man, an elder, all grey and with a beard. Walters is also an elder at the Kingdom Hall in East Durham.

“Today, elders in our congregation are modeled after how they did things in the first century — watch after the flock, encourage them to stay close to God,” Walters said.

As an elder, he calls regularly to the homes of other Witnesses. Kingdom Hall congregations are limited to 150 people so they can maintain a closer sense of community than a larger church. Just as elders have been there for him in times of trial, so is he for others. There are no paid ministers among Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“When you put yourself out there to care for others, it comes back,” Walters said.

Gift said she stays close to God through prayer, meeting attendance, her ministry and studying, reading and applying God’s Word from the Bible.

“When I teach my children, or am out in my ministry and have the opportunity to share what I’m learning, it builds me up. When I share, it builds up my faith again,” she said.

At the convention, Gift said her family tries to make friends with another family they’ve never met before. Pritz said he always asks other Jehovah’s Witnesses how they came to accept Jehovah’s Witness teaching as the truth. Everyone has an interesting answer, he said.

Read more: The Herald-Sun – Staying close to God theme of Jehovah s Witness convention