December 2015 Dear Friend of the White Estate, In several ways, 2015 was the best year ever for the White Estate. It was the 100th anniversary year of Ellen White’s death on July 16, 1915, and the organization she established to care for her writings spent much of it helping people worldwide recall the many blessings those writings continue to be. Projects included: • Articles were published in both the Adventist World and Adventist Review • Symposia and other meetings were held in several locations worldwide • Homeward Bound, 2016 daily devotional compiled from Ellen White’s writings • Ellen G. White Letters & Manuscripts with Annotations , Vol. 1 (1845-1859) • Two new books were published, Understanding Ellen White and The Gift of Prophecy in Scripture and History (Available soon at adventistbookcenter.com) • Her life and ministry were featured at the General Conference Session held in San Antonio, Texas, as well as during Annual Council in Silver Spring, Maryland, and at several of the world Divisions’ Year-end Meetings. Our Inspiring Heritage DVD, GC Session presentations by Jim Nix (parts 1-6), will be available at store.hopetv.org • A professionally designed Ellen G. White Visitor Center opened at the White Estate’s main office located in the General Conference building in Silver Spring, Maryland. It is hoped that a virtual reality tour of the new Visitor Center can be produced in 2016. • 23 video presentations by Jim Nix about Ellen White will soon be available on ellenwhite.org. We have made it a priority to create new resources as well as make existing ones more user friendly. Work continued in 2015 on the second volume of the Ellen G. White Letters & Manuscripts with Annotations. When completed, the years 1845 to 1863 will be covered. Additional volumes will be produced as funds become available. The following new resources were released during 2015: • July—new EGW Writings apps for Windows (30,000 users), iOS (455,000 users), and Android (800,000 users) • July—new main White Estate Website, ellenwhite.org • July—new m.egwwritings.org mobile website • July 16—all of Ellen White’s letters and manuscripts were released on egwwritings.org and our EGW Writings apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. • August—all of Edson White’s letters through 1915 posted to ellenwhite.org • August 29—all of W. C. White’s letterbook correspondence made available on ellenwhite.org • August 30—all of James White’s letters were uploaded to ellenwhite.org • November—download for EGW Writings CRE for Mac OS X (El Capitan) on ellenwhite.org • November 26—all incoming correspondence to the White Estate through 1915 is now available for research at ellenwhite.org • By the middle of November, the egwwritings.org website had 1.3 million users. Much of what was described above was made possible through the generous support of people like you who have partnered with the White Estate this year. But what of the future? Obviously, the future of the church is its young people. However, studies show that much of what has been produced to date will be underutilized—or not used at all—by those currently under 30 years of age. And yet, these millennials are the very youth we need to reach. Consequently, the White Estate continues to look for new ways to introduce and engage today’s youth with the life and ministry of Ellen White. On March 3, 1915, a few weeks after Ellen White fell and broke her hip, she received her last vision. Much of it was about preparing books for young people. Bedridden, she regretted not being able to do that work. During this centennial year of her death, there seems no better way to move into the future than to prepare materials specifically for young people, as Ellen White stated. Here are some of our creative plans for doing that in 2016, as funds become available: • Youth Website: Young people need a single, appealing website where they can access all youth-related Ellen White materials—youth links, videos, Pdfs, mp3, questions and answers. Estimated cost: $4,000. • Pitcairn Game: Launched in 2014, the Pitcairn game had over 10,000 players during the first half of 2015 (English only). The game is now available across all platforms and in seven languages, with continuing requests to make it available in additional languages. In order to retain current players and connect with new ones, we plan to develop and introduce an advanced level game titled Pitcairn 2. The estimated cost: $3,500. • Short Testimonial Videos: Young people want to see something that works. They want to know how Ellen White’s writings can make a difference in their lives. There are many young people who have had life-changing encounters with Jesus after reading Ellen White’s books. Their stories must be told. We want to make 2-minute videos of such young people. The short videos will be promoted over social media. Production costs will be kept at a minimum with an emphasis on making as many as possible. Estimated cost: $5,000 to edit and distribute them. • Virtual tour of “Elmshaven”: Historical sites have a tremendous influence on people, including young people. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of people can visit such places. Therefore, we want to make a virtual interactive tour of Ellen White’s “Elmshaven” home. Visitors will be able to “walk through” her home, getting a 360-degree view of each room. By moving their mouse over a picture on the wall, or item of furniture, they will get a brief story about the item. Integrated into the tour will be historic photographs, videos, and voice-overs from Ellen White’s granddaughter. Viewers will be introduced to Ellen White’s life, books, writing themes, tests of a prophet, and major events and people from early Adventist history. As a result they will receive a clear sense of their Adventist identity. Estimated cost: $30,000. Before I close, I want to express my personal appreciation for your support. Your investment in the work of the White Estate is paying rich dividends. If the Lord impresses you to partner with us again, you may do so electronically by using the attached link https://partner.egwwritings.org, or you may send your tax deductible donation to Ellen G. White Estate, Inc., 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904. Every dollar invested in any White Estate project is used 100% for the designated project. Tax deductible receipts will be issued for those wanting to claim donation credit on their U.S. Federal income taxes. Thanks so much for your prayers and ongoing financial support. May God continue to richly bless you. James R. Nix Director P.S. If you are interested in including the Ellen G. White Estate in your estate planning, please contact us if we can help you to do so. |
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