Jehovah’s Witnesses annual conference is this weekend

LIHUE — “Be Courageous” is the theme of the Jehovah’s Witnesses annual gathering scheduled this weekend at Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.

“It’s a good one in the world situation today, almost everywhere you look you’ve got to have courage and endurance,” said Bill Driver, Jehovah’s Witness convention spokesman on Kauai.

About 800 people are expected to attend here, while the event is expected to draw about 18 million participants worldwide.

Driver said those around you may make it difficult to do the right thing, which is why it’s important to remain courageous.

An example of being courageous in the face of diversity is an employer may ask an employee to do something that’s not necessarily illegal, but a little on the shady side, like fixing an invoice differently or saying they did things they didn’t.

“It takes courage to tell them, ‘You know what, I can’t do that.’ When you hired me you told me you were honest and I’m going to stay that way,” he said.

For kids in school, an area in which they may need to be courageous in is when they’re taught evolution, Driver said.

“When they’re teaching that, the young witnesses and any other Christian child has gotta have courage to stand up and say to the teacher, ‘well, here’s what you teach, I can tell you what you teach, but here’s what I believe,’ and it really takes courage,” he said.

A verse in First Corinthians 10, encourages people to be courageous, Driver said.

“It says whatever trials we may meet, that nothing will be beyond what we can put up with that Jehovah will always see through it that there’s a way out so we can cope today,” he said.

The conference, designed to bolster the community, is the same throughout the world, free and open to the public.

“The talks are the same, the videos are the same, we have an awesome feature length movie that deals with Jonah the one that got swallowed by the big fish. It’s cute but at the same time very instructional,” he said.

This year’s conference is scheduled Friday to Sunday.

Info: 292-2105, or bdriver@jw-hawaii.org

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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, can be reached at 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com.